Here, some thoughts on wintertime advertising and visibility by Green Industry marketing pro Duane Pancoast. Thanks Duane!
Don’t Let Your Marketing Go Dormant This Winter
By Duane Pancoast
Plants may only grow during three seasons of the year, but you’re in business through all four seasons. There is no reason why business growth can’t happen during the winter. At the very least, grow an abundant spring from the seeds you plant in the winter. Staying visible is critical to business success. The old adage “out of sight out of mind,” is never more true than in marketing a garden center or landscape business. When your customers and prospects don’t hear from you for three months, is there a good chance that, come spring, they will go to your competitor who has been more visible?
Even though gardeners have put their gardens to bed in the fall, they continue to think and plan for next season. They spend time browsing magazines, Internet gardening sites and seed catalogs for ideas. Many satisfy their gardening passions by turning their attention to container gardening. Where would they buy supplies if you’re not around? The big boxes or another of your competitors?
It is natural to think that scaling back your marketing efforts during the winter is a good idea due to the reduction in gardening activity, but stopping completely is not recommended. Just as a tree needs water and nutrients in the winter, your business needs visibility. Garden centers that continue to operate through the winter by selling holiday and other seasonal merchandise or tree and landscape companies that perform fall and winter tree work need to market year round. Otherwise how do your customers know that you are open?
If you are in business year round or you want an abundant spring, your customers and prospects need year round care and contact. This means advertising and marketing year round. Your business is like an evergreen, not a deciduous tree. It slows a bit in winter but doesn’t go dormant.
Some garden marketers approach each winter as they would a general economic slowdown. Marketing expenses are the first to go. Many local and national companies have learned from the general economic downturns of the past few years, however, that this could be a fatal or near fatal mistake. Their customers not only forget them, but they turn to suppliers that were visible. During the most recent recession, many companies modified their marketing efforts, rather than just cancel everything and try to ride it out. They are experiencing better sales volumes than those who stopped marketing all together.
You may want to adjust your marketing programs seasonally to reflect changes in your product mix and volume. However, pulling the plug on all communications is the last thing you should be doing. There is a philosophy that says “dropping marketing will allow a company to hire another sales person or keep a sales person on who was going to be laid off during the slow period.” This is flawed thinking. If you cancel your marketing efforts, you probably won’t need that sales person when business picks up because it may not pick up.
Very true