When Do I Advertise?

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.

Related articles by Zemanta

• When to fly the flag (timesunion.com)