Category: Latest

Posted on

10 Ways Business Owners Can Make the Most of Seasonal Marketing

10 Ways Business Owners Can Make the Most of Seasonal Marketing

by The Young Entrepreneur Council In Marketing Tips 5

shutterstock_283188632

Your company doesn’t have to specialize in a seasonal product or service for you to take advantage of holiday promotions, or certain trends that only come around once a year. In order to bring you seasonal marketing tips for small business, we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

Q. What is one strategy that can help business owners make the most of seasonal marketing campaigns?

Their best answers are below.

Seasonal Marketing Tips for Small Business

1. Start Early

It can really help to beat the noise by starting a seasonal campaign before everyone else. For example, you might send out thank you notes a few weeks before Thanksgiving or send out promotions during the spring for products that are useful for the summer. Avoid fighting the noise by starting a bit before everyone else. – Andrew Thomas, SkyBell Video Doorbell

2. Organize Your Content From the Start

You’ve heard the saying, “Don’t reinvent the wheel.” For seasonal marketing, you’ll want to organize content effectively from the start so that you can recycle your best-performing ideas next year. Use a shared drive for your team so all files are uploaded in the same place for review and implementation next year. – Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

3. Enhance Your Web Design and Logo With Seasonal Images

A great example of leveraging design and logo changes to promote seasonality and events is Google Doodles. Google changes its logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous people. You can do the same! For instance, add some snowflakes, outdoor themes, or fall foliage to your logo or change some design elements to promote seasonality. Be creative and consistent with changes. – Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com

4. Customize Your Services

For each season, try to customize your services to what customers need the most. You way want to consider offering side services that you normally don’t to match customer needs. A lawn care company for example, could offer raking during the fall season, taking advantage of a limited customer need, even though it’s not relevant the rest of the year. – Matt Doyle, Excel Builders

5. Check Out the Competition

Research what others have done in the past to see what works and what doesn’t so you can use this information as a benchmark for your own campaigns. You can adapt their strategy and use your messaging and differentiation points to set yourself apart and stand out during various seasons. – Drew Hendricks, Buttercup

6. Take Note of Last Year’s Holiday Trends

It seems like every year there is something new and exciting going on in reference to seasonal promotions. Whether it’s social media, mobile or online coupons, it’s important to keep an eye on the competition and see what’s worked in prior years. At the same time, you don’t want to waste time on trends that didn’t. Combine what has worked in the past and what works today to find a winner. –Zac Johnson, How to Start a Blog

7. Build Reusable Assets

If your business has the opportunity to capitalize on seasonal trends (which not all companies do), spend the time to design campaigns that develop assets that can be used for seasonal campaigns in the future. These could be creative, websites, mini-apps, Facebook pages, email lists, etc. The main idea is to conceptualize these campaigns as investments rather than one-offs. – Nick Eubanks, I’m From The Future

8. Use Google Ads Extensions

During holidays, use Google Ad extensions focused on the holiday season. If you are a clothing retailer, insert ad extensions related to the holiday. For example, if it’s Easter, advertise “Blowout Easter Sales” on all of your Google ads to get consumers to increase their likelihood of clicking. Use time-sensitive offers to give viewers an incentive to click. – Marcela De Vivo, Brilliance

9. Map Out Strategy Early

Regardless of whether you’re running a seasonal business or have constant sales flow throughout the year, there are ways to take advantage of seasonality. It is key to map out a strategy for the seasonal pushes that can help the business. Whether it is a discount for the holiday months or a free session to kick off member New Year’s resolutions, it is always smart to have a plan to boost sales. –Josh York, GYMGUYZ

10. Take the Opportunity to Connect

Use the holiday or season to send a quick note, update or joke to your prospects and customers as a way to stay top of mind. Marketing is about repeat impressions and if you are falling off their radar, your marketing is failing. – James McDonough, SEE Forge creators of FAT FINGER

Posted on

20 Fall Marketing Ideas That Will Get Your Business Noticed

20 Fall Marketing Ideas That Will Get Your Business Noticed

Fall is an ideal time to promote your business: people are back in town after vacation, kids are back to school, and everyone’s ready for a fresh start. Take advantage of the season’s opportunities with these marketing ideas.

  1. Launch an Instagram photo contest: Invite customers to post pictures of themselves engaged in their favorite fall activities (apple picking, flag football, etc.) with a designated hashtag. Choose a winner and offer them a free gift, and re-gram the photo on your account.
  2. Hold a “can-do” event: Email customers offering them a discount when they bring in canned and other nonperishable food items to donate to a local food pantry.
  3. Put your name on it: Ditch the paper or plastic bags (at least temporarily) in favor of reusable shopping bags featuring your business’s name. You could also encourage customers to carry it by offering a discount when they bring it into the store.
  4. Sponsor a team: Support young athletes in a way that fits with your business. For example, if you sell women’s clothing, maybe partner with a girls’ soccer team. Or if you run a restaurant, make your establishment the official pregame coffee spot for parents or postgame hangout for players.
  5. Advertise on local blogs: Identify the most popular blogs in your community for news, style, food — whatever best aligns with your business — and advertise special promotions for readers. Not only are the rates less expensive, but you can more easily reach your target market.
  6.  Hit the festival circuit: Chances are that organizations in your area host a fall fair or Oktoberfest, so find out how to set up a booth or get involved in sponsoring the event.
  7.  Host a social IRL party: Invite all your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram followers to meet up in person at your store for a shopping party with special promotions and giveaways.
  8. Offer an appealing deal: Entice people in by offering a discount. You can promote your sale via window signage, social media posts, or using something like constant contact.
  9. Lend your space: Reach out to a favorite local charity, like an animal shelter, and offer them your shop for a fundraising event.
  10. Celebrate new holidays: Halloween and Thanksgiving get all the glory, but you can make your business stand out with fun, social media–friendly holidays unique to your business, like a “Sweater Weather Saturday” sale or a “Pumpkin Spice Appreciation Day” event.
  11.  Start a deal-of-the-week email: Send targeted messages to customers with an email marketing tools offering special discounts on specific items or services.
  12.  Team up with local businesses: Work with other neighborhood shops to pool your resources (and social media reach) to throw an autumn-themed weekend event with food, entertainment, and lots of special promotions.
  13. Bring in the experts: Identify common problems among your customers (home organization, wardrobe ideas, hair updates), and designate a day to offer the expertise of your staff and outside consultants with free in-store consultations.
  14. Throw a “treat yo’self” party: Email your best customers and invite them to a special event with complimentary manicures, chair massages, and makeup application along with cocktails and appetizers.
  15.  Spend now, save later: Holiday shopping season is looming, so tempt your customers with a deal: if they spend a certain amount now, they’ll get a designated amount off their purchase after Thanksgiving.
  16.  Get media savvy: Reach out to local TV news, radio shows, and podcasts to pitch seasonal stories that relate to your business, like fall fashion updates, seasonal recipes, and more.
  17. Hire fresh talent: Need new photography, graphic design, or social media help? We know someone who can help!
  18. Donate to local auctions: Fall is a huge fundraising time for schools and charity organizations, so reach out to some of your favorites and offer goods and services for raffles and silent auctions. You’ll raise awareness about your business and be a good neighbor.
  19. Host a swap party: Create a Facebook invite and ask all your fans to bring in one good-as-new item for a clothing or home goods swap and shopping party. Donate any unclaimed items to charity.
  20. Get some, give some: Promote your store’s preholiday shopping by offering a deal for buying in multiples, like get a free $15 gift card for every $100 you spend on gift cards.
Posted on

Case Study: Hidden Valley Foundation

Creating a symbol to represent a company is difficult. A logo must perfectly convey the company’s purpose, function and mission, while also being aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It is a highly subjective and specialized process that requires much more than just artistic ability to properly execute. For typically when a business desires a service they place an order and a service is rendered. Logo creation however requires a partnership. Something tangible must be made out of the intangible though a series of conversations designed to extract the soul of a company in a symbolic form. Done properly and you will create a badge to last the life of your company. Choose the wrong designer and all you’ll create is more bills.
The Hidden Valley Foundation Project:

 

Task:

Design a year around logo for a place typically viewed as a winter resort.

 

Process:

The initial meetings brought about the notion of “Mountain Life is Calling”. Conveying the ideals and experience of a four season active family community while staying true to the company’s preexisting branding.

Originally the foundation used a stylized snowflake and lettering to reflect the name. The logo spoke only of the winter season and was beginning to showing its age. It did not tell the story of an active four seasons community, nor did it convey the idea of “Mountain Life Calling”. Our task require us to develop a logo that would tell the story of a four seasons community, give a sense of mountain life, and be one that the organization could used in all its products, collateral, website and social network profiles.

HVFI_Emblem

Once an initial idea began to take shape, we moved into the nuts and bolts of graphic design work. Fonts were tested, thicknesses determined, elements arranged until, for lack of a better phrase, it just felt right. Now, instead of just a symbol of a season, a vibrant year-round community was established.

HV logo_3

HV logo_2

 

Final polish added local elements of rolling mountains, sunrise, water and trees to show the full force of the seasons and marry the notions to the new brand.

HV logo_5                           HV logo_4                                 HV logo

Simply put, this case study is to show that a logo is not just a pretty picture. It is vital representation of your company only derived from meticulous research, deep analysis and a thorough investigation of existing products within your sphere.

Our designers know this, do yours?

 


   HV logo

How Can We Help YOU Today? 
Inspire. Create. Print.