10 Ways Business Owners Can Make the Most of Seasonal Marketing


seasonal marketing tips for small business

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 ThomasSkyBell 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 JonesLSEO.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 DoyleExcel 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 HendricksButtercup

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 JohnsonHow 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 YorkGYMGUYZ

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 McDonoughSEE Forge creators of FAT FINGER


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The Young Entrepreneur Council The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

5 Reactions
  1. I agree on the ‘Start Early’ part. It is very important to get ahead of the game when it comes to seasonal promotions. This is because your competition is sure to do it. Your only edge is in the time that you do it.

  2. It is very important to have a plan right from the beginning. This can be a content or a marketing plan. Just have a plan before you start on your seasonal marketing.

  3. I think this applies for summer and Christmas. I think more so on Christmas where promotions can be quite competitive.

  4. Andrew Molobetsi

    Great article. Discovered it just when 2016 tax season in South Africa is around the corner. Thanks for the tips.