Seasonal towns are usually classified as those that experience their main influx of business during specific time of the year. As a result, it is crucial for businesses that are located in these areas to ensure that they focus on promoting their products and services in an online capacity as much as possible all year round. If your business is in a seasonal town, it may be worth considering implementing the following seasonal marketing steps to help boost its visibility. We’re writing this for businesses located in Naples, FL. In Naples we are know to see an influx in early January lasting through mid May. Don’t assume everyone is driving down 41 and seeing your business. People are using the web and you need to be visible, current and up to date with your design.
Don’t Forget About SEO!
SEO is one of these words that is thrown around quite a bit but it really is important. Web visibility might not be the make or break for your business but it could lead to new groups of people making their way to your front door. Being visible in Google is becoming more and more crucial. Business owners in Naples FL, that traditionally did not require a great deal of Internet visibility, are now finding themselves needing help. People are mobile and they are Google’ing as they walk, are you visible?
Keep your Business Website Updated
Nowadays, there is no question of whether businesses should have websites or not – instead, they should all be ensuring that regular updates are performed on them. This is especially true of businesses that rely on event-based website traffic or even foot traffic into brick and mortar locations, as it can be quite frustrating for visitors to arrive at a website, only to find that events are still being advertised that took place a few months ago or sales are being displayed for products that are no longer available. Any upcoming events should be promoted well in advance, as this will give seasonal visitors the opportunity to include these businesses in their itineraries ahead of time as well. Keep in mind, in Naples there are younger and younger generations visiting turning towards the web to find that great restaurant, yoga instructor or even boat rental. If you haven’t been paying attention to your website you could be losing out on new business.
Collect Email Addresses All Year Round
Just because the seasonal marketing may have died down for the year, it does not mean that any online marketing efforts should follow suit. In fact, businesses that continue marketing during the quieter spells will usually enjoy far higher levels of online visibility than those that don’t. A relatively simple way for a business to continue its marketing efforts off-season is to collect email addresses – this can be done by encouraging website visitors to subscribe to receive future updates or it can even involve old-fashioned review cards, where visitors to a brick and mortar location can provide their contact details on a short survey card in return for some form of promotional discount.
Offer Promotions to Locals during Off-Season
Once the last tourists have packed up and headed home, businesses in seasonal towns will rely almost entirely on locals in order to survive the next few months. As a result, it is important to make locals aware of the fact that their patronage is appreciated just as much as that of the tourists. One of the best ways to do this is to have special seasonal marketing offers or discount deals that are only valid if they are redeemed by local or permanent residents of the town. For example, a restaurant could offer a BOGO special on certain days of the week or for specific meals, and this could even be combined with collecting the customer’s email address to use for future marketing purposes.
Remain Active on Social Media
Many companies in seasonal towns make the mistake of allowing their social media accounts to lay dormant until the next year. However, when doing marketing in Naples FL or any other seasonal town, it is imperative that businesses be active on at least a few social media platforms all year round. This will enable locals as well as any potential tourists to see that the business in question is in fact open all year round. At present, some of the most popular social media platforms that should be used include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn – many online marketers report that they are receiving tremendous amounts of traffic from Pinterest at the moment.
If planned ahead of time and implemented correctly, the above mentioned seasonal marketing techniques will help ensure that businesses in seasonal locations are able to comfortably keep their doors open all year round. After all, many locals will only become aware of the fact that a business in their area operates all year round if a sufficient level of advertising and marketing is done on a consistent basis.