So, when do you advertise? Strike while the iron’s hot. There are 2 critical things to look at:
1. Holidays 2. Historical Sales Patterns
#1 Holidays
So, #1 are there any Holidays coming up & what is their impact on your business? For example, with Mother’s Day coming up, it might be great for a restaurant to advertise leading into it; but not so much for an automobile dealership (the car dealership should not even attempt to compete with Mom!).
What important dates are coming up in the next 3 months? Well, right now, we could certainly pinpoint Father’s Day, Independence Day (U.S. July 4th) & perhaps final summer vacation times – traditionally Labor Day in the United States (depending on when/if local schools restart their school year; or if they are year-round in your community; etc.).
#2 Sales Patterns
Go back over the last 3 years & graph/chart sales on a week-by-week basis (or day-by-day, if prudent). This will give you an easy snapshot to refer to. Then perform an historical analysis: were there any seasonal anomalies caused by weather, societal disruption, economic calamity, sporting events; etc.
Now comes the hard part: advertise in the hot times. Yes, I know, you want to move the market when it’s cold; but this is really, really hard. It’s far easier to fan the flames of a small campfire & turn it into a raging forest fire than it is to thaw a glacier. You can’t move a market that’s frozen . . . without giving away the store.
- Image via Wikipedia
Related articles by Zemanta
- When to fly the flag (timesunion.com)
Recent Comments