Many retailers deal with seasonal products. Certain products that have specific time of the year where they are used thus it is assumed that there is greater interest in the product during that time period. I realize this I not breaking any new ground for most of you but how you think about marketing seasonal products should be new because guess what: there is no off season for marketing.

Some of are probably thinking “Sure there is. It’s the time that I have to spend less money and save for the busy season.” If this is how you are thinking I would suggest that you consider things differently. Why? Because more aggressive and savvy marketers are realizing that the “off season” is when you build the relationship with customers so that when it becomes “in season” they won’t look to any other competitor to make their purchase. If you are trying to win a customer from a competitor who has worked to keep their customer year-round your chances of success start at slim and quickly move to none.

Here’s an example. Imagine there are two ski shops in Winter Town, USA. Obviously the ski season should be the busy season and for years the shops went into hibernation for the warm months. As soon as there was the hint of chill in the air they reached out to their customers in earnest to try to secure their business for the upcoming season. This is how it has always been done.

This begs the question “Although these stores went into hibernation, did their customers’ interest in their winter sports go into hibernation as well? No likely. People who are passionate about a particular activity or sport never tire of consuming information about that passion regardless of the season. In fact, in the “off-season” they are as likely if not more so to find any information or content related to their passion so they can stay as close to it even though it’s not something they can do right then and there. Why do you think the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL have year round channels for their sports even when it is the off season? Because the fans never tire of their passion.

So back to our ski shops in Winter Town. It’s June 3 and one of the shop owners is heading out of own for the summer to re-charge their batteries and be refreshed for the start of the busy season. The other shop owner has decided to take a week long “working vacation” to plan for something different this year. She wants to keep in touch with their customer base through the off-season using e-mail marketing for newsletters and previews of the new season’s products. They can even get some research done for making better decisions on what keywords and key phrases to use in the paid search campaigns as a result of their interactions with customers.

Fast forward to the END of the busy season. Our vacationing shop owner is wondering why his stores sales are down 25% for the year. He’s also wondering how he can afford to take the summer off like he does every other year.

As for the shop owner who took advantage of the tools available and capitalized on the fact that his customers never stop shopping so why should he stop marketing? Well, you guessed it, her sales were up 25% year over year. Now she can hire that marketing specialist to be in touch with her customers year round and deepen their commitment to her store.

Sure, we made this story up but we also know that it is not far from the truth that is being played out all over every industry and vertical that has peak seasons. For those who feel that their customers don’t think about their next purchase around their passion until it’s “that time of year” you are going to be taken to the cleaners by the competition that knows better.

Are you communicating with your customers through e-mail and newsletters and website updates / promotions throughout the entire year? If not you should be. Call us at Dealer Ignition to learn how we make it easy for you to stay in touch with your customers so they can spend their hard earned money with your business.

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