Green Peaks Marketing Services LLC

It’s the first day of Spring! Many parts of the country are waking-up, feeling energized and full of positivity after a long winter spent mostly indoors with a slew of personal projects, goals and plans put in a ‘postponed’ state until the weather improved. This is the season where people have a spring in their step (pun intended).

It’s a great opportunity for many small businesses to take advantage of more energized consumers who are ready to spend on themselves, their homes, socializing and more.

Before we move on though, let’s pause here to give a moments thought to those allergy sufferers who cringe when they see the flowers starting to bud – bracing themselves for watery eyes, itchy throats and sneezing fits 🤧. (But, hey local pharmacies, I hope you are planning a locally targeted marketing campaign to let those poor people know how you are there to help them through their pain!)

Understanding Seasonal Impact on Consumer Purchasing Behavior

It’s important to remember how seasons can affect the consumer purchasing journey for what are considered typically seasonal products. Many purchases made in the springtime are a result of a prolonged period of consideration over winter. Consumers will still recognize needs during winter and spend an extended amount of time evaluating their options, but hold off on the purchase decision until warmer weather, lighter evenings and longer days arrive.

The magical formula of Meaningful Marketing consists of sending the right (clear) message that resonates with the audience, in the right place (channel and location) at the right time. It’s important for businesses to understand that while customers might not be buying or re-purchasing certain items consistently through winter (low purchase intent), you should still maintain a level of branding and engagement that maintains your brand familiarity so you aren’t at a cold-start when people are ready to make a purchase decision in spring.

A perfect example of this might be somebody looking to purchase a garden shed. It’s very possible that a need is recognized during the winter season, such as parents realizing that the current shed is suddenly too small to store all the outdoor kid’s toys that have been accumulated over the summer. Or perhaps when a winter storm rips the shingles off the roof. It’s likely that the consumer will make-do with the current shed for the time being, but begin researching options with a plan to make a spring purchase.

Industry Specific Spring Marketing Opportunities

Springtime presents an opportunity for many business types to craft campaigns that might include seasonal messaging or that taps into changing consumer behavior, motivations and needs that spur purchase intent.

And as I sit here writing this article, an email just landed in my inbox from a Winery that I visited during the summer, telling me that it’s time to “Sip into Spring”. Timely indeed! This email shows a selection of wines which are most popular during the spring season – a mix Riesling, Rose, Sauvignon Blanc varieties. This email taps into the emotions of wine drinkers, evoking joyful visions of warmer days ahead enjoying a glass of crisp, cool wine.

Obviously, spring is a time of year when many of us plan and book big summer vacations but I’m going to focus on some less obvious opportunities. I’ll explore how small – medium sized businesses, who serve local community needs, can strategize to connect with new and existing customers, capitalizing on positive sentiment, mood and behavioral changes that come with the change of season.

Health and Fitness

As much as people tend to make health commitments around eating and exercise on Jan 1, it can be hard stepping out into the cold to pick-up greens from the store, take a jog or head to the gym when it’s much easier to close the door, sit on the couch and order a pizza, making a promise to ‘Start next week’. 🤥

Gyms, Personal Trainers, Supermarkets, Health Food Stores and Personal Nutritionists are all examples of businesses that can take strides to achieving their business objectives with skillfully executed marketing campaigns across the full purchasing funnel, from raising brand awareness to converting customers and re-selling or up-selling to existing clients.

Be authentic, play on the fact that January 1st is just a date, and Spring is the optimal time to set those goals and start working on achieving them.

Fashion

As people pull out the plastic boxes storing last year’s warmer climate clothing, they realize that summer dress or polo shirt looks a bit crumpled and smells a tad damp from 5 months in storage 👃. People get excited about some fresh smelling, soft attire that adds a splash of color commensurate with the bright days and blooming landscape.

Opportunities here for local fashion retailers, dry cleaners, and even textile-recycling companies, (for-profit and not-for-profit). BTW, Less than 1% of used clothing is recycled- a sad statistic.

Home Improvement

The obligatory and necessary ‘Spring Clean’ that I like to call the ‘Home Detox’. Spring is a time when our homes want to stretch and dust-off after taking a battering and feeling neglect over winter.

People open up the windows to ‘let the house breathe’, clear-out clutter, and March (yeah, another pun!) to the stores to buy cleaning supplies and maybe new cooler-touch bed linen. Clearing that spare room might be the perfect time to add a new coat of paint, and while at it, some new furniture!.

The loose rain gutter and paint peeling from the siding after winter storms calls for new siding, which is always the best time to replace windows, especially since you’ve just spent months suffering with cold air creeping-in through the gaps.

Spring is also when you’re going to hear those leaf blowers and lawn mowers fire up as people clear away the debris, add pre-germ weed treatment and plant flower bulbs ready to bloom in the summer. Which dad will be crowned Neighborhood Greenest Lawn Champion this year? 👑 🏘

Landscapers, DIY stores, Home Designers and Home Contractors – this is your time!

Restaurants

New seasons bring new ingredients, and locally grown fresh produce which is better for the environment and for health. Spring is a fantastic time for restaurants to introduce new items to the food and drink menu that are more suited to warmer climates and consumer preferences.

It’s also a time when restaurants can open up the patio adding capacity, driving up sales and increasing profitability, and enhancing the dining experience. Marketing campaigns should inform consumers old and new that the patio is open, or the menu is improved and needs to be checked out. Include high quality photographs showing new menu items and and decor improvements that have been made to help people visualize themselves at the restaurant enjoying a nice meal while sat on the patio.

And with Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day all falling in the spring season, it’s a time when restaurants want to be front of mind when people are making celebratory dinner reservations.

Leveraging Spring Events For Marketing Tactics

Aside from the improve weather conditions that present the major opportunity to connect with consumers during springtime, there are numerous other events, observances and holidays that marketing campaigns can be built around. Businesses can leverage these events to connect their value proposition in a relevant way to drive engagement or to increase short term sales.

Skipping the obvious ones like Easter and Mother’s Day, here are a few other examples and ideas that small local businesses might consider for marketing inspiration:

April Fools Day and International Pillow Fight Day (April 1st)

A fun campaign could be built here for a local home furnishings store. How about giving away free pillows to the family who post the best photos on social media of a family pillow fight?! This type of campaign, perhaps including a hashtag of #familypillowfight, generates earned media- that means, free media attention through social sharing which helps build brand awareness at very little cost to the business.

National Dog Parent Appreciation Day (April 19th)

I love my dog. And I’d love it if my local doggy daycare recognized this event and recognized me as dog parent and a loyal customer of theirs – after all, they wouldn’t be in business if nobody loved their dogs. How about giving away free cupcakes or having a photographer on-site to capture free high quality photos of pups & parents during the week.

Earth Day (April 22nd)

Garden Centers should be all over this event. How about giving away a free tree to anyone who spends $200 on Earth Day, to pull customers to them rather than the dominating retailers like Home Depot and Lowes.

Cinco De Mayo (March 5th)

The ultimate goal of any restaurant is to get paying diners sat at tables or ordering take out. On Cinco De Mayo there will be plenty of organic foot business for Mexican restaurants that doesn’t require enticing consumers with a promotion, but what about extending reach to build awareness and make yourself the preferred celebration spot by employing a few creative marketing tactics.

How about giving away some custom margarita cocktail recipes in the lead up to the date, using social media channels to share this content will help put them front of mind as people begin thinking about making reservations. Not only that, this will help them engage with broader audiences and boost their follower count and future business.

National Burger Day (May 28th)

How about creating a special off-the-menu burger recipe available for one day only. Promotions that drive urgency and scarcity are always popular and generate a buzz.

Tax Season!

While I didn’t want to end this article on a miserable tone, we all know that Spring also means Tax Season. Obviously this presents an opportunity for local tax preparers to extend their client base or for businesses whose products are tax deductible to drive sales. Beyond that though, businesses can get creative to turn a generally negative sentiment about something into an opportunity for themselves by sparking joy. How about the local ice-cream parlor offering BOGO ice cream on April 15th – Ice Cream makes EVERYTHING better!