How to Prepare for Your Busy Season

Almost every industry has a busy season, but not everyone knows how to properly prepare their marketing efforts in time for that season. The saying "failing to plan is planning to fail" holds especially true when it comes to managing the ebbs and flows of marketing activity.

Luckily, marketing teams can handle everything from a surge in website activity to an increase in customer engagement and demand with the right resources and strategies. Let’s break down a few of our go-to tactics we like to implement when it’s time to prepare your annual marketing efforts for busy season.

Identify and Understand Your Busy Season

Believe it or not, not every business has taken the time to gather the necessary information to pinpoint their busy season. Nor have they mapped out how marketing and sales can help support and grow business during these busier times. Identifying the times when demand starts to increase is the first step to ensuring your marketing team and operational procedures are prepared and ready for the seasonal spikes in activity.

To determine your busy season, we recommend analyzing historical data, customer behavior, and industry trends. This information can help you start to understand the ups and downs of your industry, inevitably helping you set the foundation for a targeted and effective marketing plan that aligns with the unique needs of your target audience.

Optimize Your Website

The goal of your website is to operate as a silent salesforce, utilizing streamlined resources and user-friendly navigation to convert leads as efficiently as possible. As you optimize your website for user experience, you’re not just enhancing the look and feel of the site, but fine-tuning the engine that drives your online presence. This approach not only saves you time and money in the long run, but also positions your business as a customer-centric operation ready to meet the demands of your busy season.

If you aren’t sure where to start your optimizations, return to your initial customer behavior data. Allow the data to inform you actions by asking questions such as:

• What are my customers trying to accomplish on my website during busy season?
• How does the current site layout hinder user experience?
• What additional information might customers need when they land on our website?

Be Proactive with Your Content

In the lead-up to your busy season, taking a proactive approach to website content can be a game-changer. By investing time during the slower months to create a backlog of useful content like blogs and guides, photos, and even videos, you’re essentially future-proofing your marketing efforts and avoiding a potential lull in your online presence. This content library is not just a resource for ongoing engagement. It also allows visitors to easily find what they're looking for, reducing the need for extensive assistance.

When mining for good content topics, let your customer support and sales teams lend a hand. They can help give marketing teams an idea of what content will resonate, what problems customers need help solving, and what trends and hot topics customers are hoping to learn more about. Lean into being a thought leader during these busier times to ensure your customers can quickly and easily find what they are looking for.

Leverage Social Media Marketing

When you build out a social media calendar early, you ensure a consistent presence even during busy season. This proactive approach eliminates the need for daily content creation during peak periods, safeguarding the brand's presence, and fostering audience engagement. Planning early for social at the same time as content also allows for smart time savings. Content generated early for your blog, with video or photos, can easily be cross-promoted on social media allowing you to save time and effort.

Strategic social media planning empowers marketing teams to seamlessly shift focus from content creation to real-time sales and conversions. Planning empowers businesses to navigate the demands of peak seasons with a focus on real-time success.

Integrate AI Technology

In the midst of peak season, integrating AI technology like chatbots is a smart move for marketers aiming to enhance customer experience while optimizing their resource utilization. Chatbots provide instant, round-the-clock customer support, addressing visitor questions and guiding them to where they want to go.

This support boosts customer satisfaction and frees up valuable employee time, allowing your team to focus on high-priority tasks during the busiest periods. With the ability to handle routine inquiries efficiently, chatbots ensure a swift and consistent response while reducing the strain on human resources.

Consider External Support

Sometimes the best way to prepare for your busy season is to bring in an extra set of hands. A marketing agency brings expertise, resources, and a fresh perspective to your campaigns, helping you navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities more effectively.

In the dynamic landscape of digital marketing, where staying ahead is crucial, an agency's proficiency can unlock sustainable growth and ensure you never have a drop-off in engagement, outreach, or communication.

Looking to bolster your business’ marketing efforts? Reach out to Aztek today to learn more about how we can support your organization.