How Online Marketing Can Help A Seasonal Business

Anyone who owns or works in a seasonal business will know that it’s hard to get people through the door if the off-season. There are all sorts of businesses that experience this – pool companies, snow-gear rental, etc. This is where an effective online marketing campaign can really help you out, either with getting people through your door in the off-season or getting them raring to go when the appropriate season rolls around.

At the end of the season, use your company website or e-newsletter (or even both) to ask for customer feedback and reviews of your business. Not only does this help you to make an assessment of the kind of service you gave to your customers during the season, it doubles as promotional material to use in next season’s online marketing campaign. Feature the reviews in your next e-newsletter, post feedback on your blog, or even update your social networking platforms with the comments.

Take the off-season as the opportunity to experiment with methods of online marketing that you have never used before, such as social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Include links to your social media pages on your main website, your blog, in the signature of your emails, and even in your e-newsletter. People who have enjoyed your business in the past may be inclined to click on the links, thereby providing you with a sort of free online marketing. Social networking sites are also great for posting little updates relating to your business (if there is, perhaps, a rather hot day in winter a pool company could post a status on their Facebook about wanting a pool or wishing it was summer).

Be sure to continuously distribute valuable content to your customers and members of your mailing list, and don’t restrict this to a single channel. This is a highly effective form of online marketing as it ensures that your business is kept in the minds of your customers all year round. Try to anticipate what your customer’s pre-season and end-of-season needs are, and shape your online marketing campaign around that. If you own a pool business, send out reminders to all your customers using e-newsletters, social networking websites and your blog that summer is coming and now is a great time to be thinking about installing or updating your pool. As summer draws to a close, supply your customers with instructions on how to keep their pools clean until next summer – don’t forget to promote your range of pool covers and chemicals.

While it is true that owning a seasonal business can be hard work, the clever use of online marketing at the right times of the year will ensure that your business gets as much traffic as possible. You just have to experiment to see what works for you.