The Hard Truth You Don’t Often Hear When You Own a Seasonal Business

Most small business owners know, that running a business is a constant dose of decision making, stress, passion, love and heartbreak. It can be a lot, and if you have a seasonal business, that “a lot” often runs on hyperdrive.

As a seasonal business owner, each year you have a set period of time to make-it or break-it and then you’re “done,” until you have to do it all over again several months later. We also know that when your season ends, often all you want to do is drop and not think about anything until just before reopening. I’m here to tell you that it’s a mistake to take the route.

When you shut down all of your marketing and communications at the same time you shut your doors for the season, you’re turning your back on your customers and their loyalty too.

The hard truth is that Seasonal businesses need to stay active in the off-seaon. Once you decide to shut everything down, you’re out of sight and others will soon take your place

and the attention of your customers. Soon you’ll be out of mind.

And this my friends, will hurt your bottom line.

Sure, every brand has loyal customers who will be your ride or die and stay with you ‘til the bitter end, but in most cases, especially with the algorithms, it will be harder to find you when become active again. Just think about your own feed now. As most posts aren’t chronological, you may not see someone you follow’s post for days or in some cases a week or more. That translates to your business posts when you start up with the next high season begins and you’re left trying to get views and engagement. Don’t let this happen to you.

Operating in the high-season is demanding, draining and yet rewarding— at least I hope it is or you may want to rethink your business model. Try to push back the desire to hibernate. We're not saying don't take a break, we're highly supportive of creating a balance, but there is a way keep the activity going. And despite what you may think, it’s NOT at the same pace you had to maintain in the high-season. Plus we're not talking just about social media activity as some marketers may recommend.

Here are Simply K2 Marketing's Top 3 Things to Focus on in the Off-Season as a Seasonal Business:

1. Take Stock of Your Brand Messaging Review your website, Google Business Profile, social media and any directories you show up in. Is it still accurate? Does it accurately reflect who your brand or store is today or where you want it to go? Do you have a key brand messages and strategy covered, including, a defined target audience, positioning, mission statement etc. in place? If not, with more bandwidth, THIS, is the time to dive in and set this up or make changes.

   
   

2. Utilize Email Marketing Emails are a great way to connect more deeply and provide tailored information and messages to your customers and fans.

   • If you have collected emails. Consider sending an email blast/newsletter at least 2x while you’re closed. It keeps your brand top of mind AND is a sales driver should you offer e-commerce while your brick and mortar are closed. This will also get you in the habit of sending emails more regularly when you reopen. Think quarterly or monthly at first. Pick the frequency that you can sustain first, and add more later.

     
     

   • If you've never sent emails, there's no better time to start (and plan). First compile any collected emails and add them to a trust email platform -- many of which are free to use depending on the number of subscribers. (We use Sender.net, but many like Mail Chimp, Constant Contact and others. Just check the compatibility with your website - which also may have email marketing capabilities.) Next solicit subscriptions. Use social media to get your customers and fans to sign up. Whether you have 10 names or 1000 names, it’s never early to start. And don't be afraid to ask your friends and family to join. We started there and grew our list from there. Your next steps as above are to create a newsletter at a frequency that works for you. Use this to share behind-the-scenes, polls, updates, sales and product features. Truly the content options are endless.

     
     

3. Keep Sharing on Social Media To be clear, no one says that this has to be at the same frequency as your high-season activity. During quieter times, sharing 1-2 posts or stories per week will sustain you. Remember the idea is to stay seen. Some posting tips include asking for feedback from the past season or the upcoming one, share behind-the-scenes as you prep for the upcoming season, post a testimonial, tell potential visitors about where your store is located and consider a countdown clock to your reopening. Remember, social media is your best brand awareness tool it's not your primary sales driver, so you have the chance to engage.

While it’s true that a business may not go out of business if all the marketing stops when the doors shut, but it will be harder come spring to get the eyes on the business and traction. If it’s impossible to stay active in any way, minimally we recommend to back up at least two months before the doors reopen. This will give you some time to readjust and create a plan before your business is at full throttle.

At Simply K2 Marketing, we’ve found that businesses who remain active all-year-long, have an easier time when the new season arrives. They feel more in control of their marketing and messaging, and most importantly, customers are excited to come back and shop. Yes it takes some work and dedication, but you’ll start back up stronger than the year prior, feel more confident, and your customers will already be engaged.

We’ve shared just a little bit about our top three recommendations to keep your brand awareness going above.

Has this prompted you to stay active when your season ends this year? Or are you going to keep it status quo? If you're going to forgo staying active, tell us what's holding you back. We really want to know what roadblocks you see.

We've brought back our most requested seasonal business survival guide:

To take your business to the next level and kick your next busy-season with more confidence, join us for the return of our fall, Off-Season Survival Guide Workshops for Seasonal Businesses on October 15th and October 28th. These live workshops (you only need to attend one) will present specific details and tools you can use, including even more tips and content ideas you can put in place without having to hire a marketing agency unless you want to. (Hey we know off-season budgets can be tight, so we have a special offer...)

If you pre-register for our Priority Access by September 30th, you’ll receive a special discount! Join our Priority Access Here

Registration for our Live Workshops Opens October 1st. Keep watching for more details on our social media.