- Nov 29, 2022
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For marketers, every holiday or event is an opportunity for promotions or sales. New Year, March 8, or the Champions League final—any event can serve as an additional trigger for purchases. This makes event-driven or seasonal marketing an excellent approach for driving profitable traffic.
Today, let's discuss the upcoming winter holiday season and associated vacations. We will explore which tools work best, the strategies to adopt in seasonal marketing, and most importantly, the benefits this type of marketing brings.
What is Seasonal Marketing?
Seasonal marketing refers to adjusting a company's advertising activities based on fluctuating demand throughout the year. Simply put, it's about modifying your sales strategy during periods when your product is in high demand or, conversely, when it might not be needed.Demand can be influenced by the changing seasons, long holidays, or major sports/cultural events. For example, mosquito repellents are popular in the summer, while hats, scarves, and heaters are bestsellers in winter.
Instead of worrying about offers becoming irrelevant during certain seasons, view these periods as an opportunity to shift your focus to other product categories. In fact, the winter holiday season is sometimes referred to as the "fifth quarter." To maximize profits during this season, a well-thought-out strategy is crucial.
How to Create a Seasonal Marketing Campaign
One of the key stages in building a seasonal campaign is correctly segmenting your audience to create more personalized ads.Launching seasonal marketing ads should happen in advance because audiences react better when they’re warmed up. Some products or services even have delayed demand. For example, many people start looking for holiday gifts well ahead of time, so your warm-up phase should begin at least two months before peak sales.
Here’s a schematic breakdown of the seasonal marketing campaign process:
1) Analysis:
- Review past seasonal campaigns to identify strengths and weaknesses, and to forecast sales volume for the upcoming season.
- Analyze your audience to properly segment them and understand who would be most interested in seasonal products or services.
- Look at search trends from previous years to identify patterns in demand.
3) Develop creative campaigns and discount strategies.
4) Choose tools and formats for campaign execution.
5) Launch the campaign and monitor performance.
Predicting Seasonal Trends in Advertising
To forecast demand in different seasons, analytics tools like Yandex Wordstat or Google Trends can help by showing user search data for various periods.If search traffic declines, you can launch contextual ads to attract consumers. Focus on special promotions or add non-seasonal offers as a bonus.
Analyzing your competitors is also key. By reviewing their offerings and ad formats, you can gain insight into which products will see the highest demand and plan accordingly.
Benefits of Seasonal Marketing
Seasonal marketing has several benefits if you offer the right product:- Increased sales: Due to heightened demand for specific products and services.
- Re-engagement of dormant customers: These are people familiar with your brand who are waiting for discounts and promotions.
- Attracting new customers: With seasonal demand shifts, brands can win new clients by addressing their seasonal needs.
- Enhanced brand awareness: Seasonal marketing offers a great opportunity to get your brand noticed through special offers and creative campaigns.
Tools for Seasonal Marketing
Choosing the right promotional tools for your offer is essential. What works best?- Contextual and targeted ads: These help drive quick sales, especially when targeted to the right audience.
- SEO optimization: Useful for products with predictable annual seasonality.
- Social media: Platforms like VK and Telegram are indispensable in the 21st century.
- Email marketing: Still effective, especially when timed to remind customers about an upcoming season or event.
- Video ads: YouTube and TikTok are great platforms for visually engaging your audience.
Seasonal Marketing Strategy
A multichannel approach is key in seasonal marketing. The more channels you use, the higher your chances of capturing and maintaining your audience’s attention. Seasonal consumers are usually more open to new offers.In addition to multichannel efforts, performance marketing is another strategy many brands use. It focuses on results, such as sales or conversions, making it a more budget-efficient option than just boosting brand awareness.
To succeed in seasonal marketing, repackage your product to suit the event or season. Many brands also collaborate with related companies to offer joint promotions.
Mobile app advertising is also effective when aligned with the interests of your target audience. For example, if you’re promoting winter clothing, advertise in apps popular among travelers or winter sports enthusiasts.
Tips and Hacks
Here are a few tips to make seasonal marketing easier:- Plan your stock and inventory levels well in advance.
- Predict demand and stay aware of changing trends.
- Use historical data to forecast sales volumes.
- Launch pre-season promotions to warm up your audience.
- Participate in seasonal marketplace promotions.
- Implement dynamic pricing: Start high at the beginning of the season, then lower prices toward the end to stimulate sales.
- At the end of the season, offer discounts on leftover stock to minimize storage costs.
- SEO-optimize product descriptions using seasonal keywords.
Case Study: Winter Vacation Season
The winter vacation season is an additional opportunity for profit, especially in verticals like ecommerce, travel, and insurance.Ecommerce
Timing is everything when it comes to switching product categories from summer/fall to winter items. Special offers and limited-time collections can create urgency and prompt fast purchases. Winter holidays also present numerous gift-giving opportunities, so products like holiday decorations, cosmetics, electronics, and warm clothing are always popular.
Universal products—those that appeal to all demographics, like heaters or fairy lights—tend to perform well during the winter season.
Travel Vertical
In the travel niche, offers include flights, hotel bookings, excursions, cruises, transportation rentals, foreign bank cards, and visa services. Travel products are highly sensitive to seasonal demand surges.For arbitrage marketers, offers in the travel vertical usually operate on a RevShare model, earning a percentage of the advertiser’s profit. The travel industry also allows for additional upselling opportunities.
Insurance
Travel insurance is increasingly popular, especially during the winter holiday season, which brings more unpredictable circumstances—from snowstorms to canceled flights. Insurance is sold by travel agencies, insurance companies, and online platforms, making it another lucrative niche for seasonal marketing.
Conclusion
Seasonal marketing is a great way to boost profits in affiliate marketing across various verticals. However, to ensure that campaigns are profitable and not loss-making, you need to approach the process with a clear strategy: analyze your audience, assess demand, study the product, and choose the right promotion tools.While seasonal offers with flashy discounts may seem like a surefire win, a campaign without proper warm-up and analysis will likely attract random clicks rather than generate substantial sales.
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