Cape Cod Marketing Strategies: Seasonal Marketing Guide

Seasonal businesses Marketing in Cape Cod

Our community in Cape Cod is known for a lot of things. Sharks, great beaches, and awesome seafood all readily come to mind. For me, when I think of Cape Cod, I think of a vast number of seasonal businesses I look forward to visiting each year. Many businesses that exist in Cape Cod operate only during the summer season, and either close or taper off in the winter months. This isn’t a unique issue for Cape Cod, as there are seasonal companies in every state in the United States.

No matter where you’re located, small business owners know that they need to work hard in order to succeed. But sometimes it can be difficult when you are juggling a million things, don't have enough time or the right knowledge. It is even harder if you can only operate your business in certain seasons with higher employee turnover and increased pressure to stay above the water. Here are 7 ways to turn your business into a year round powerhouse.

1. Set up a website

Simple yes. For most reading this article, this is not a surprise and could even come off as obvious. For some, this is a time consuming feat. Websites are essential to turning your seasonal business into a business you can easily run year round. According to the US eCommerce study in 2018, around 88% of consumers researched products and services online before they purchased anything. At the height of the pandemic, there has been double digit growth in a large amount of product categories and online services that is expected to continue throughout the rest of 2021 and onward.

With that being said, search engines are powerful tools to get your business out there. As a result of the massive increase of businesses getting online, website builders have grown to be adaptable and easy to use for any business type. Many builders even have templates for specific businesses to use to expedite the process. A basic site includes a homepage, an about page, a contact page, and the product or service page. Getting your site set up, hosted, and indexed online is worth the budget it requires.

In my opinion, you should look at the specialized website builder company’s first, such as Squarespace, Wix, and Wordpress. Before you make a decision, look at integrations. Make sure you see that they integrate with the marketing channels you us such as email, text, social media, CRMs, POS systems, etc. This is extremely important to save you time in the future. If you need further help choosing one, let us know! We prefer Squarespace, use them ourselves and we are very impressed with their integrations and ease of use. Below are some examples of simple websites.

Make sure to do the necessary research as website builders are different, and each have their own pros and cons specific to your business model. Keep us posted on how it is going and please feel free to ask us for help.

2. Build an ecommerce store

After your website is up and running, if you sell a product or products you need to build an online store. Going into your off months, whether you have inventory left or would like to continue selling, an ecommerce site is a great and easy way to get your products in front of a wider audience. Once again, we want to keep it simple and cheap for you! The website builders mentioned earlier all have built in ecommerce stores that come with their basic plans. This also comes with a lot of amazing addons like coupons, pop-ups, check out workflows, POS systems, and promotional emails. Lots of great ways to promote the products as well as remarket current potential clients.

The other side of the same coin, there are a large amount of companies that specialize in ecommerce. Notable mentions include Shopify, Woocommerce, Magento, Big Cartel, and many others. If your company is established or a larger storefront, I recommend utilizing one of these to build your ecommerce store. Once again, make sure to check which of the ecommerce platforms connect seamlessly with your website.

Once you choose the one that is the best fit for you, start by integrating with your website and marketing systems like email and social media so you can transfer data easily. Next, create product listings of your most popular items first. Use categories to sort your inventory to better understand what is popular. Finally, promote your store on all facets of marketing. Tell people in your store about it, point people towards it in your social media and emails. Additionally, most of these sites have point of service systems that you can even institute in your store for easy inventory control, shipping, automation, and promotional material.

Ecommerce statistics over the past year

3. Stay persistent with email marketing

One of the most common practices we see occur within seasonal companies we work with at Chatham Oaks is the common practice to shut down email marketing after a long season in order to prepare for next season. Some seasonal companies may not even use email because of the seasonal nature of the business, or may just use it to send thank you notes. With the busy seasons and the post season cooldown of many seasonal businesses, emails are often disregarded. Emails may be a major time consumer, but they are extremely effective at staying top of mind with your customers as well as a great tool to drive them to your website or online store.

Building an email list

Quickly, I would like to touch on how to build an email list as a seasonal business. Most seasonal businesses operate solely out of their physical locations. Whether you have a store, hotel, restaurant, or something a little bit different; here’s a few solid ways to start building your list.

1. Collect emails on transaction. This can be through a rewards program, to notify special deals, or even to give them a discount. When you are directly facing the customer, make sure to mention what you typically plan to send for emails. Not all will give you emails, but they add up quick.

2. To get access to the Wi-Fi. This one is great for some businesses but not all. When providing free Wi-Fi, ask for the first name and email address before people connect. There are a lot of software options you can install to make this happen. Make sure you ask permission to send them emails.

3. QR Code landing page. You probably have already seen QR codes for menus, on tags, at the front desk, or wherever else. These little squares are one of the easiest ways to navigate the web and they make building lists easy too. Use pop up or static landing pages to ask for contact information.

These are only a few ideas. In my opinion, the best way to grow your business’ list is to get creative. What makes you different and what do people enjoy receiving from you? Take that and find a way to use that to your advantage.

Creating an effective email marketing schedule

Now that you have learned a little more on how to build your list its time to use those contacts. There are two focal points that should be at the center of your email marketing strategy: each email should teach you more about that specific customer and your emails are consistent. Think of it as providing each of your customers a monthly visit to your brick and mortar location online.

To kick this off, first send an automated thank you email. Include a little bit more about your brand and let them know what to expect out of your emails in the offseason. Having your schedule formulated will help immensely. Within this email, ask important questions through forms or call to action buttons to segment your list based on important facts you need to know about your customer, for example what they would like to see from your emails. Finally, prepare a basic email template that you can edit easily.

If your customer knows when to expect from your email and if you learn new info about how to further provide them with value, your emails will never be pushy and they will help you stay top of mind with your customer. Storing the information you learn about your customer’s transaction history from emails, form and poll submissions, and clicks in your ecommerce store in your CRM will allow you to develop a better relationship with each customer and draw them to your business more consistently.

4. Build a loyalty/rewards program

Getting more and more common amongst larger companies each year are company loyalty programs. Loyalty programs come in a bunch of shapes and sizes, whether it be on an application, text list, email list, or even the classic punch card. Using these types of programs, larger firms are able to generate recurring business through using rewards points or loyalty deals. No matter what size your company is, you can use the exact same strategies.

Dynamic promo codes

One of the easiest ways to incorporate a loyalty program is to print some punch cards. The downside of these are they can only be used in the store. However, if you combine a dynamic promo code with the punch card, you can allow people to keep track and use these punch cards wherever they may be. Some of the ecommerce or marketing platforms have dynamic promo codes that will allow you to track what each person has purchased. Eventually, when those punch cards are filled up or if that specific customer hits the transaction goal, you can send them a particular discount or free product. Here’s an example: A customer visits your store and purchases two candles. Your punch card gives that person a free candle after 7 candles have been purchased. You mention that you have a promo code they can use to continue filling their punch card even when they aren’t in your store. Combined with other strategies we touch on like email and text message marketing, you can ensure additional sales.

“Inner Circle” email list or social group

Another great way to generate a loyalty program is to create an exclusive group that customers can join. Commonly done through Facebook groups, this can also be done by creating a special email list. Two easy ways to formulate include creating it within the store or building it during an event. If you are looking to create it in your place of business, consider positioning it as a way to gather feedback from your “most loyal” customers in addition to various discounts and promotions so they know what to expect. Use easy ways for them to sign up like QR Codes or even asking them at the register, which allows them to maintain the great experience they had in your business. Most will take the motivation that drove them to purchase to sign up. At an event, you have the benefit of seeing who is the most engaged in your business. Getting people to an event is a tough task itself, but they are there for your company so most will not hesitate to sign up. Position it as an ongoing thank you to them for coming. Ask for their email or provide a way for them to follow your social media. After they sign up, kick it off with a quick thank you note as well as what they can expect from the “inner circle” group. Which ever strategy you use, inner circle groups are a phenomenal strategy for you to utilize because it creates a sense of exclusivity. You’ll create loyal customers and learn what they want from your business next season.

Create a subscription service

Finally, the last great rewards program method we wanted to touch upon is the increasingly popular subscription service. You see a massive amount of these currently with companies like Peloton, Harry’s, Netflix and whatever else you subscribe to on an annual or monthly basis. With any company, you have the ability to create a subscription service to extend your services or product sales into the off season. This is where you need to get creative. Shipping may be a substantial expense as well as packaging depending on what it is you are selling, so make sure to budget accordingly. If you have a physical product, create a loot crate. A loot crate is a box where you can send your customers some of your products. An extremely efficient way to do this is to promote it to your “Inner circle” or highest engaged email list. Position it as a product test. Ask your customers what they would like to see in the box, and provide them with a link to purchase the loot crate. Try to do this as often as you can to keep your customers engaged and generate more sales. On the other hand, if you provide services or experiences, this is even easier. With new online communication technology like Zoom and Google Meet you have the ability to provide classes, coaching sessions, and other appointments online at any time. Creating a membership program with monthly classes or sessions and promoting it to all of your customers will provide you with ongoing offseason business. We’ll talk about that next.

5. Integrate a virtual appointment manager

With most service businesses, developments in communication technology have allowed small business owners to conduct business anywhere. In order to do that efficiently, you can integrate a virtual appointment manager to book your appointments for you. To begin, look at your website to see if you have access to one already. Most websites either have built in or plug in appointment schedulers that are full service. By that I mean they take the payment, insert the appointment in your schedule, send initial reminder and thank you emails, and even reminds you before it starts. Combining this with the subscription service and the marketing techniques we covered before will fill up your schedule going right into the offseason. They will also help take much of the scheduling work off of your plate so you can focus on other operations and marketing. Make sure you are integrating this calendar with the calendar you prefer, such as Outlook or Google so you stay up to date and don’t double book.

6. Start up SMS or text marketing

Aside from email, another great way to stay top of mind is through SMS or text marketing. If you are just starting text message mass marketing, great choice. Most internet access and engagement in 2021 is through mobile devices which makes moving notifications and marketing through the mobile device much more promising for engagement. Text message marketing has exploded in recent years because of that sentiment and many small businesses have been seeing some great success after instituting that in their marketing.

There are a few ways to introduce this effectively in your marketing strategy. I have seen the most success come from collecting phone numbers in the store in two ways. You can focus on the tried and true strategy to collect the phone at the transaction and let them know about your text messages. The most successful strategy that you can introduce is to have them sign up for a discount code or some other kind of benefit in your business. To give you an example, your customer walks in and sees “text into 45455 to receive 10% off on your purchase”. They walked in your business for a reason, if they planned to purchase something than any discount is enticing.

The second step is most important. Allow them to get the 10% off in the store the day of but plan your follow up strategy carefully. Unsubscribing from text is extremely simple for your customers. Every text you send to them you are one click away from losing that customer from your text list. I would recommend leading off with a personalized thank you note with a “see you next time” sort of feel. To make sure you maximize this opportunity, provide links to your socials, website, store, and email sign up form but make sure they do not take away from the message. This is, of course, my opinion. Your creativity is once again your greatest tool so use it and consistently test new ideas.

7. Get your customers involved

We have covered a whole lot of stuff in this blog. So much so that I saved the most important piece of the puzzle for last. Whether you use one of these strategies or all of these strategies, you need to make sure the emphasis is on customer engagement. Staying top of mind is important for all small businesses but it is quintessential for seasonal businesses to go a step further. Whatever you create for your marketing strategies, your focus needs to be on creating engagement and feedback from your customers. The most important thing is that they feel involved with how your store is running and they feel as excited as the first time they found it. Include lots of polls, surveys, reviews, events, and other ways to create the relationships with your customers. This will keep your customers coming back consistently and even give you some ideas on how you can improve your business based on your market.

So, here are the marketing strategies for seasonal businesses we talked about

Your business is one of a kind. You have chosen the seasonal lifestyle for one reason or another. Maybe you like the location you’re in, or maybe its the best place for your business model. Maybe you only want it operational a few months every year and you do not want to put any more work in it. No matter what it may be, running your business the way that brings the most enjoyment is what we recommend. If there is anything that you learned or will adapt into you business that we talked about in this article, please let us know!

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If you need any help with implementing any of these strategies, book a time with us here.

7 tips for seasonal small businesses to boost their marketing success