5 Tips for Marketing This Fall/Winter Season
September 18, 2020
Fall and winter are favored seasons for many. With a variety of family friendly holidays to enjoy, crisp air, and falling leaves, what’s not to love? Along with the change from summer to fall comes a change of marketing material. There’s no longer a point to posting beach memes on social media or asking customers about their tropical vacations; now’s the time to use the weather and season to your advantage.
Here are 5 tips we suggest trying to increase traffic, ROI, and overall user enjoyment during the fall/winter season.
1. Cash in on Current Trends
There’s so much about fall and winter that people LOVE; pumpkin spice, Halloween, and hot beverages – to name a few. The more you see these topics trending on social media, the more you know you’re in the right mindset when using them in your own blogs and social media updates. Cashing in on these trends is the best way to envelope your brand in the season and encourage customers to get on board.
Even a business which is completely unrelated to pumpkins can use them in their memes, backgrounds, blogs, and more. Consumers love seeing things they’re interested in, and they love being part of things which are larger than themselves. So, get moving with new campaigns sprinkled with nutmeg and painted in hues of orange and yellow.
2. Make Standard Products Reflect the Season
Your products and services might be offered year-round, but that doesn’t have to stand in the way of their fall/winter aptitude. For example, even a roofing or plumbing firm can get on board with the fall theme by marketing gutter cleaning around the concept of falling leaves. Similarly, shingle repair before the big frost is a big encouragement for homeowners.
If you sell kitchenware, now’s the time to promote the orange and yellow items to customers, announcing that they’re in theme with Thanksgiving and Halloween. As October and November give way to December, do the same with the red and green items for Christmas. And consumers love a bit of sparkle or confetti around New Years. You might be surprised to find what a difference a color makes to a shopper during the holidays.
3. Encourage Engagement Relating to Fall
It really doesn’t matter what your company sells, as long as your customers are thinking about things they love when they see your products and services online. Posting content relating to fall will engage your social media followers and blog readers to engage. Don’t worry if your post has anything to do with your brand for the moment. Ask what people are planning to be for Halloween, encourage a costume contest where followers post photos of themselves and the winner receives a small free product or a discount toward a purchase.
Anything you do to encourage engagement reflects on your search engine optimization and overall brand recognition.
4. Post Images Which Reflect Fall/Winter Ambience
A photo is worth a thousand words and that’s exactly what they’ll do in terms of engaging customers and encouraging social media shares and blog comments. Get your customer base talking by posting photos, memes, GIFs, and even videos relating to fall and winter. A photo of a man trying to shovel his driveway with a “not again” look on his face, a video clip of a dog diving into a snowbank, a meme of a kitten in a witch’s hat saying, “CAT wait for Halloween!” These are all minimal effort to create and post, but the effect is well worth it.
The best photos you can post from a branding prospective are those which include your business or team. Get in the photo yourself. Shake things up by posting a group image of your workplace with everyone in their own costumes for Halloween. Or, post a video clip of your personal homemade Thanksgiving turkey coming out of the oven for consumers to see.
Consumers love feeling like they’re part of something, so including them in your world with these tiny personal tidbits is a perfect way to increase brand loyalty and web presence.
5. Prepare Consumers for Upcoming Holidays
We’ve already touched on holidays, but we can’t express this enough – consumers love holidays. There’s a reason why shoppers spend more during back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas than the rest of the year combined. Don’t let this opportunity for financial success slip by you. Use your branding, content, products and services to get ahead through social media, blogging, vlogging, and your website.
The best thing you can do for your business is to make customers picture your brand when they go out to the shops for these holidays. Therefore, marketing your products and services for the season is so important to success. Fall and winter are the best time to connect with customers and let them know your brand is more than just a business.
Being Successful During Fall and Winter
Unlike summer, where many businesses see sales slope and go stagnant for a time while consumers vacation and enjoy the sunshine – the fall and winter season is a busy time for all. This is the perfect time to up your marketing strategy game, employ an SEO specialist, or hire a content manager. Use every tool at your fingertips to make shoppers notice you and make your brand their own.
Looking for more tips on successful marketing strategies? See what competitors in your industry are posting about and whether consumers are engaging with them. If it looks like they’re heading in the right direction, follow suit. If not, steer clear. Happy marketing!