For seasonal business owners, demand rises and falls with the changing weather. While seasonality is a unique and perhaps daunting challenge, the predictable rhythm of demand means that those businesses who can sync their marketing with the mandates of sun or snow can have success year-round.
97th Floor is no stranger to seasonal marketing; we’ve executed winning strategies for businesses including pool maintenance, sports equipment, cruise lines, pest control, lawn care, solar, and moving services, just to name a few.
In this article, our resident experts in SEO, content, and advertising share five actionable tips for seasonable business marketers.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long-term game, and waiting until peak season to focus on it can be a costly mistake. It's essential to begin your SEO efforts well in advance, ideally during the off-season.
Head of SEO Mike Witham says, “You need consistent year round efforts to maintain and improve rankings. If your peak season is in March, you should be ensuring you have solid rankings for core pages by no later than December. Do not start working on it the month before your peak season!”
For businesses serving multiple states or a large region of the country, seasonal demand may be different across these various geographies.
Enterprise advertising specialist Spencer Martin uses Google Keyword Planner to anticipate search volume fluctuations in different areas.
He shares, “We launch campaigns early so that we have 2 to 4 weeks to ramp up and capture the full demand. Campaigns need time to scale and learn, so if we wait until the season starts to launch we lose out on potential profits for our clients.”
While digital marketing is crucial, seasonal businesses can see major wins by looking at more traditional advertising. Enterprise Account Executive Nathan Hooper suggests non-digital forms of advertising, such as mailers or community events to target local audiences. Advertising on community calendar pages or local business directories can put your business in front of potential customers who may be researching local services.
Understanding your buyer and their motives for buying is essential for capturing demand at the right time.
Senior Director of Campaigns Jon Hammond shares that his clients in the travel industry refer to December through February as “The Wave.” This three-month period is the biggest sales period for travel as people look forward to summer sun during the cold, dark winter months. His clients maximize their ad budget and run major deals and promotions during this time to capture the demand.
Content Marketing Specialist Kaylee Baker emphasizes the importance of targeting specific demographics, such as 18-30 or 25-40-year-old males, who are the main consumers of seasonal services. Consider the platforms they frequent, such as YouTube, to tailor your marketing efforts accordingly.
When reporting to leadership, especially in industries with high historical seasonality, like cruises, it's essential to use Year-over-Year (YoY) data rather than Month-over-Month (MoM) data. This approach provides a more accurate depiction of progress or decline in traffic or sales over the seasons. By analyzing YoY data, you can better understand trends and make informed decisions to optimize your marketing strategies.
In conclusion, marketing a seasonal business requires careful planning, adaptation, and understanding of your target audience. By implementing these five tips, you can maximize your marketing efforts and capitalize on seasonal fluctuations in demand.
JK Moving is the largest independent mover in North America, having made over half a million moves. Their residential services include local, long-distance, and international moves. They offer commercial services including office and facility relocation, biotech and lab services, and warehousing and archival services.
JK Moving came to 97th Floor after a previous agency failed to deliver cost-effective leads through JK Moving’s search advertisements.
JK Moving needed a strong partner to take control of disorderly ad accounts and execute a strategy that would consistently deliver leads at a low cost.
97th Floor immediately took a deep dive into the client’s ad accounts, reviewing the entirety of the account history to own a complete understanding of previous and current campaign results.
97th Floor’s thorough audit revealed much about JK Moving’s ad accounts, including the following:
Based on this audit, 97th Floor’s goal for the account was to maintain and increase JK Moving’s ad’s high conversion rate while decreasing costs and using budget more efficiently to ultimately increase the return on investment.
97th Floor’s strategy included the following ad account optimizations:
97th Floor’s meticulous fine-tuning produced a 190% increase in new users to the site, and a 108% increase in leads overall, while lowering JK Moving’s cost per lead by 50%.
Lawn Doctor's founders built the first-ever automated lawn care machine in the 1960's; today the business is a franchise model with locations all over the country.
When Lawn Care corporate approached 97th Floor, they were unimpressed with the results coming from their current SEO and PPC agency.
Lawn care is a highly seasonal business, but Lawn Doctor only saw a lift from digital marketing at the end of their busy season. Lawn Doctor needed a strategic partner to help them generate interest and get in front of customers ahead of the coming year's busy season to maximize sales . 97th Floor began work in November; we had three months to work before Lawn Doctor's busy season begins in March.
Working closely with Lawn Doctor, 97th Floor identified dozens of high-volume terms that were predominantly searched on mobile devices.
We then optimized key landing pages for these terms and worked with thought leaders, industry publications, and media outlets to acquire high authority backlinks over the course of the campaign.
Extensive user tracking and A/B testing enabled us to improve the user experience on the site, helping to convert the increased organic traffic coming in from the SEO campaign.
By the end of the campaign, Lawn Doctor outranked each of their competitors – locally and nationally.
Additionally, Lawn Doctor saw:
The SEO campaign was so successful that it produced Lawn Doctor's most profitable season to-date – talk about grassroots, huh?
8M Solar is a pioneering renewable energy company committed to advancing solar technology. With a focus on innovation and sustainability, 8M Solar strives to provide cutting-edge solar solutions for a greener and more sustainable future.
8M Solar's marketing is very localized, relying on in-person sales and online marketing to target key areas throughout North Carolina. They approached 97th Floor for assistance when their conversions were being negatively impacted by flatlined traffic and declining rankings.
Our SEO strategy for 8M Solar included:
In just 11 months, 97th Floor dramatically enhanced 8M Solar's organic traffic, achieving a 498% increase in web traffic and a 177% rise in quote submissions. Our SEO strategy expanded the company's organic keywords from 1,166 to 3,886, significantly boosting 8M Solar's visibility and market position in the renewable energy sector.
A prominent player in the residential solar industry, Vivint Solar specializes in eco-friendly solutions to deliver sustainable and cost-effective energy to homeowners.
Faced with the challenge of new market competitors, Vivint Solar came to 97th Floor to expand its reach, increase non-branded traffic, and regain market share using digital strategies that could evolve and compound over time.
Our strategy involved a multifaceted approach to enhance their online presence. We focused on targeting intent-based keywords in our blog content and site optimizations to increase non-branded traffic.
Recognizing Vivint Solar's national reach, we implemented local SEO strategies to drive organic inquiries in various locales. A crucial part of our approach was a robust link-building campaign, ensuring the newly created content ranked effectively for the targeted keywords. Our strategy encompassed:
After launching, Vivint Solar's non-branded organic traffic grew from 5% to a third of all visitors. This change, along with a 40% annual increase in overall organic traffic, significantly enhanced revenue, contributing to a marked increase in recurring revenue.
