At a time when our inboxes are filled with festive mailers and cyber Monday click bait I thought now was a great time to discuss seasonal content marketing.
In the constant battle for reach, sales and shares, one marketing strategy is regularly missed, trends. A seasonal content marketing strategy is a great way to recapture a consumer and draw attention to a new product or brand campaign launch.
There are two main types of seasonal content: time-based content, which are the regular seasons of the year and event-based content, which are around key calendar events such as Halloween, Christmas, Mother’s Day, and bank holidays.
Content that is themed around a particular season is proven to be more shareable than regular content and this automatically raises a brands awareness, which is great when launching a new campaign. Consumers are much more likely to share and interact with content that is topical and relatable to their current thoughts.
As the current season or calendar event is already on the consumer’s mind, the seasonal content is much more likely to naturally engage and resonate with them. A great example of this are the Christmas TV adverts, a classic form of seasonal content marketing, however over the past few years, John Lewis have cranked the Christmas advert stakes up a notch. The department stores have now created an expectation with its consumers, even building the anticipation weeks before the ‘big’ release. Furthermore one simple ad can turn in to a PR frenzy, with unveils making the top story on every national online. The results clearly speak for themselves, as despite only being released in November, the John Lewis Christmas advert, ‘Buster the Boxer’ was the most-shared advert of 2016.
Creating exciting and relevant seasonal content communicates the important message that your brand is current. This delivers the perception that a brand is on point, relevant and knows their audience inside out. A seasonal content strategy is one of the best ways to send valuable refresh signals to search engines. This will indicate to the consumer that you’re actively adding fresh content to your website and prompt them to visit the site to see what’s new. This approach is a great way to drive traffic to a site.
However it is crucial to ensure the season doesn’t over power the strategic brand image. The content should amplify your brand’s message in a unique, relevant way. There is no point in producing content that lacks originality just because it’s Christmas, because we all know we’re on the countdown to the big day. Think about how you can use the season to your advantage by producing content that is both unique and relevant to the target audience.
Another thing to consider when producing seasonal content is timing, marketing specialists suggest you should start your seasonal campaign just before the peak of the season. This will ensure you are sure one of the leaders, rather than one of the sheep following behind.
Integrating both evergreen and seasonal content marketing techniques is highly important for brands when attempting to connect with their target audience. Being able to determine how and when to create seasonal content based around your brand can be hugely beneficial when endeavouring to capture these time-sensitive needs from both new and existing customers.
If delivered in the right way, seasonal content can help to produce an exciting way to deliver relevant, on point and fun content which will both appeal to your audience and increase engagement. So get the calendars out and let the brainstorms commence!