Be unique in your seasonal marketing

Seasonal marketing is focusing a marketing strategy on annual events, dates or holidays and creating a marketing campaign based on a comparable theme. However, there’s a bit more to seasonal marketing than tweeting a picture of a pumpkin or creating “spooky” discounts. 

How many people do you know that grumble about Christmas cards being sold in August? Well, how do you think your followers would respond to a “spooky” competition or discount in February? Yes, you can start to plan your seasonal marketing strategy well in advance, but you shouldn’t execute your campaign too early, or by the time the event or holiday comes around, your campaign will have lost its potency. 

It’s important to be unique but relevant when delivering a seasonal marketing campaign. For example, back in 2015 Guinness brought out these awesome coasters that mimicked Guinness’ already spooky black and white colours and created a shadow effect on the table. People were interested in the coasters and wanted their own, helping substantially elevate sales during Halloween!

However, if you’re thinking more on the social campaign side, a prime example was Hershey’s simple-yet-effective stop-motion DIY videos. This simple video marketing campaign presented tricks that could be mimicked at Halloween parties while influencing potential buyers to buy Hershey products so they could recreate the trick! One video, only 5 seconds long, managed over 1.5 million views, proving how effective their marketing was. If you can find and execute a unique hashtag, competition idea, video series or utilize one of social media’s other tools to your advantage, you may find your campaign gains traction as Hershey’s did!

The take-home when it comes to seasonal marketing is it’s never too early to start thinking about seasonal marketing campaign ideas. The more time allowed, the better the campaign will be. However, it’s important to remember to get the timing of your campaign right and ensure it peaks at the correct time. In doing so, you are more likely to boost sales, extend your reach, and gain followers! Couple this with a unique idea and you’ll be on to a winning strategy.