Seasonality in Performance marketing: 4 tips
Do you miss out on leads or turnover every year because you only start optimizing when the market is already in full swing? Or do you have no idea when 'the season' starts in your industry? Then it's time to discover how you can take maximum advantage of seasonal trends with smart adjustments to your marketing strategy. Read more!
In brief
Seasonality refers to the extent to which products or services are purchased during specific times of the year, such as the run-up to Christmas or in the summer.
By understanding these trends, you can maximize revenue from marketing strategies and respond to customer needs and market movements in a timely manner. This increases your market presence, brand awareness and generally makes you more relevant to your target group. You can read exactly how to do that later in this blog!
Table of contents
- What is seasonality
- Why do you have to do something with it?
- Tip 1: map the seasonality of your industry
- Tip 2: Make your content season-proof
- Tip 3: Allocate your budget wisely
- Tip 4: Look at your competition
What is seasonality?
Seasonality, also called seasonality, refers to the extent to which products or services are purchased in connection with certain times of the year. Products and services receive more attention during these periods, because people associate them with something specific. Think of ice cream, air conditioning and swimming pools in the summer.
The Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a commonly used measure for identifying seasonal trends. The CLV is the financial value a company can expect from one customer relationship over time. It is an essential concept used by many companies to optimize their marketing strategies.
Why do you have to do something with it?
First, it helps you adapt and scale your offering in time for an upcoming seasonal trend, such as holidays, seasonal changes or events. This allows you to respond to customer needs in time, so that customers do not end up empty-handed or move them to the competitor.
In addition, it also has major advantages for your market reach. Seasonality ensures that your existing customers and prospects are extra attracted to your products or services, increasing your market presence and brand awareness. Another factor why seasonality is so useful is that it helps personalize your content. By adapting your content directly to the specific needs of your customers, you make your content personal and relevant.
Our tips:
- Map the seasonality of your industry.
- Make your content season-proof and start on time.
- Advertisements, landing pages and promotions.
- Allocate your budget wisely, don't stop completely.
- Look at your competition.
1. Map the seasonality of your industry
You probably already know it, but it's important to know how and if seasonal trends affect your business.
Just think: do you buy a swimming pool in winter? Or are you looking for a winter coat in the summer? Probably not. As a smart marketer you have to respond to this!
This is how you go about it:
- Analyze (historical) data from Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads.
- See how the market is moving in Google Trends.
- Check internal sales data from the sales department.
Please note: look beyond the basic information. This way you distinguish real seasonal trends from other external influences, such as the weather or last year's promotions. Just like other special events. Do you compare data in a financial crisis (and let's not forget the lockdown during the corona period) with a time when the market is picking up? Then you must take this insight with you.
Pro tip: Analyze at the product or category level to discover which items sell best during which periods. Don't forget to check the duration of your conversions – especially with more expensive products, it can be longer than you think.
2. Make your content season-proof and start on time
Are you already in the busy season? Then you are busy with orders, stock and customer service. You don't have time to think about new campaigns and marketing.
A month earlier you might have had more time to plan your marketing. Fortunately, there is plenty to work on in the low season because you are not swamped with customers.
Now is the time to analyze and understand your seasonal highs and lows. Create a calendar that combines your content, social posts, and paid ads so you have an overview of your entire marketing plan.
This is also the perfect time to write and design valuable content. But don't share all of these out of season! Schedule them to share during your busy months so you don't have to put in extra effort to create blog posts, videos, and podcasts after long, hectic days.
Think further! Advertisements, landing pages and promotions
If you have a seasonal business, you know the competition is strong. Every store tries to grab shoppers' attention before Black Friday. Every gym hopes to receive many registrations from people with good intentions on January 1.
That means you need to create relevant, eye-catching campaigns to stand out from the crowd. The first step to standing out is to trust your brand's voice and personality. Sharing your seasonal messages in your unique voice gives you an edge over your competitors.
Don't be afraid to shine your brand identity in your seasonal marketing campaigns to get customers excited about shopping with you.
In practice
It's important to include seasonal keywords in your SEO and PPC campaigns to increase your visibility during busy periods. Find out what terms and phrases your target audience uses during specific seasons, such as “Christmas gifts,” “summer clothes,” or “fall decorations.” By using these terms intelligently in your website content, blog posts, meta tags and ad texts, you ensure that you are easier to find when customers actively search for seasonal products or services.
You can also apply this principle in your advertisements. Give your headlines and descriptions a seasonal twist: clearly state the period (“This winter”, “March 2024”) and apply this in all your texts, including sitelinks. For shopping campaigns: experiment with seasonal product titles.
3. Allocate your budget wisely, don't stop completely
Use your new insights to distribute your marketing budget smartly. Suppose you have €100.000 to spend. And January accounts for 15% of your turnover. Then €15.000 goes to January.
Flexibility is key; If the market turns unexpectedly, you want to make quick adjustments.
When it comes to marketing, there are several tactics you can use to improve your existing strategy and attract more customers during your busy season. However, it is important to stay active with your marketing all year round. This way you ensure that customers can always find you, no matter when they search for you. This makes it easier to be ready for your busy season.
Regardless of your seasonal marketing, keep your basic marketing strategy consistent throughout the year.
For example, SEO is a tactic that you should use continuously, because it is constantly evolving and helps to make your company more visible. For this you need an ongoing strategy.
Conducting brand-building activities such as display advertising and PPC throughout the year, albeit on a smaller scale, will increase your company's brand awareness. This way, potential customers are already aware of your brand when your busy season starts.
Social media is also important to use actively throughout the year, even if it's just organic posts. It's harder to get engagement during your busy season if your pages have been inactive for the past six months.
Develop a basic marketing strategy that you can expand on as your busy season approaches.
4. Look at your competition
Speaking of standing out from the competition, it's easier to know how to stand out when you know what you're up against. Take a look at what your top competitors have done for their seasonal marketing and try to determine if there are any gaps that you can fill perfectly.
You also want to make sure you don't repeat campaigns they ran last year.
Do you want advice or help with your e-commerce marketing? Social Brothers will help you! Contact us via the module at the bottom of this page or visit our Contact page.
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