Winter Marketing Facts, Strategy & Techniques
For seasonal businesses, active marketing in the off season seems to be a waste of money. At face value, it is. What can be gained by spending money on marketing to people when they aren’t buying?
Branding: The End Game
Remember that building a successful service based business isn’t about getting ALL the customers. It’s about making the MOST amount of money with the LEAST amount of effort. That way, if you want to expand, you know exactly how much effort/money is required to gain a certain percentage of your market. 
If you want to scale back, you know exactly how much to pull out of your marketing budget/efforts so as not to waste it. Consider this:
- Is it easier to start each year with an entirely new set of customers?
- Or is it better to know that you have a 40 – 50% repeat business rate, filling the rest of your schedule with new business?
- What if that rate were more like 70 – 80%?
- Would it be CHEAPER to re-market AND CLOSE customers who already know who you are and trust you?
The long and short of it is this: unless you are a brand new company, there should never be a time when
your business name isn’t being put in front of your target audience. Let me explain why this is not just my opinion, but fact.
The Black Friday Phenomenon
Black Friday is known by shoppers to be the best sale day of the year. But what about retailers? Retailers know it’s their busiest day of the year, the day where their profits soar. By contrast March and July are the slowest retail shopping times of the year. Does this affect the content of their marketing? Yes. Does this affect whether or not they decide to market? No. It would be ludicrous for a big box retailer to simply STOP marketing because it is their slowest time of year. They know that market share has everything to do with brand recognition and the unconscious decision a shopper makes when deciding which 
store to go to. Those decisions are solely based on previous experience AND what’s been put in front of them during the last period of time since they shopped (commercials, Facebook/instagram ads -seen those yet?, pay per click ads, etc.).
Let’s Look At A Case Study
We’ve been marketing for seasonal businesses for years. Our marketing plans are specifically noncommittal so that our customers have the flexibility they need during the off season. But let’s show you what happened during a spring season kickoff between 2 customers, one who marketed during the winter, and one who stopped in November and picked it up in March:
[van_one_half]
AB Pressure Washing
Located in a typically seasonal area, the owner of this company took our recommendation and marketed through the winter. We focused on clientele we could make profits on during the off season, as well as branding for residential clients on a regular basis. Between November 1 – March 1, he:
- Signed 4 new commercial contracts worth $8,370
- Submitted 13 commercial proposals (aka met 13 new real prospects he could bid on next year!)
- Saw a 30% decline in overall web traffic
- Spent $1,615 on marketing
- Put his brand name in front of 16,350 residential customers online
- Had direct mail hitting mailboxes February 10th
- Had an email campaign setup to remind repeat customers starting February 1st
- Kicked off his residential busy season (full schedule!) by February 24th.
[/van_one_half]
[van_one_half_last]
CD Pressure Washing
Located in a typically seasonal area, the owner of this company decided to pause his marketing efforts at the end of October. We talked about a few things he could do on his own during the off season, and made plans to pick up his marketing on March 1st. During that time, he:
- Signed 1 new commercial contracts worth $1,125
- Submitted 3 commercial proposals (aka met 3 new real prospects he could bid on next year!)
- Saw a 70% decline in overall web traffic
- Spent $0 on marketing
- Did NOT put his brand name in front residential customers online
- Forgot about direct mail and got busy before he could organize it
- Forgot about reminding repeat customers and hopes they remember him
- Kicked off his residential busy season by March 17th.
[/van_one_half_last]
If CD Pressure Washing reminds you of what happens during your off season, now is the time to do something!! You don’t have to spend the same amount of money, but you CAN put more effort into it since you have more time on your hands. Don’t waste the winter binging on Gas Monkey episodes…dedicate some time to making your business profitable during the winter! Make organized plans for spring. Don’t wait until the phone has already started ringing to put systems in place.
We have a couple of winter marketing plans you might be interested in if you need help:
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_text_separator title=”Did We Mention No Contracts?” title_align=”separator_align_center” color=”black” style=”dashed”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text][van_pricing_item name=”Basic” price=”$195/Month” button_text=”Get Started” button_color=”#72c4ee” href=”https://www.uniqueamb.com/internet-marketing-questionnaire?basic” target=”_self” featured=”No”]
Review Notifications
Search Engine Optimization
(US Based Companies Only)
Search Engine Submission
Google Adwords Review
Social Media Setup & Branding
Monthly Reporting
Discount on Monarch
Setup Fee – $195
Total Winter Marketing Cost – $780
[/van_pricing_item][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text][van_pricing_item name=”Premier” price=”$375/Month” button_text=”Get Started” button_color=”#72c4ee” href=”https://www.uniqueamb.com/internet-marketing-questionnaire?premier” target=”_self” featured=”Yes”]
Basic Features PLUS
Market Exclusivity*
Professional Copywriting*
Keyword Tracking
Adwords Setup & Management*
Video Marketing
Google & Facebook Remarketing
Call Tracking
Conversion Tracking
1/2 Hour with Alex
25 Leads from A Type Data
Discount on Monarch
Setup Fee – $250
Total Winter Marketing Cost – $1750
[/van_pricing_item][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
