Using actionable marketing strategies to manage the peaks and valleys of a seasonal outdoor brand’s business can turn challenging times into growth opportunities. Sales for outdoor gear might not be crushing it during the off-season, but brands shouldn’t stall their marketing efforts or wait for business to rebound before diving in. Launching marketing campaigns year-round keeps your brand at the forefront of the industry and helps build anticipation of upcoming products and launches to drive sales.
Preparing for Off-Season Marketing
You shouldn’t wait until peak sales are over to start your off-season marketing prep. Outdoor brands can ready themselves for off-season marketing by encouraging customer reviews, growing their subscriber lists and setting up website tracking and analytics to capture valuable data when engagement, clicks and traffic are high.
Grow Your Customer Database and Subscriber Lists
Companies should take advantage of increased traffic during peak seasons to grow their subscriber lists. Utilize pop-ups on your website, add sign-up opportunities to checkout pages and invite people to join via email campaigns dedicated to your loyalty program. Offer early-access deals, top-tier gear guides and giveaways as irresistible perks to opting in, and you’ll have a fresh batch of high-value customers to target with seasonal marketing campaigns for your outdoor brand.
Gather Customer Reviews
Strong sales periods present the perfect opportunity to request customer reviews and testimonials for seasonal marketing campaigns for outdoor brands. Remind people to review your product or service through post-purchase emails with a link to your site or your Google Business Profile, and encourage them to pop by your social feeds to leave feedback. When the peak season wraps, you’ll have loads of recent reviews to lean on for off-season marketing campaigns. Sharing customers’ experiences helps future customers imagine your gear on their next outing and builds trust in your company.
Capture Insights and Data
Take advantage of the influx of traffic during your busy season to analyze campaign performance, customer behavior and purchase habits. Comparing cyclical patterns can identify seasonal wants and needs and inform seasonal marketing campaigns for outdoor brands. Use this data as your compass to show where you’ve been and where you’re headed next. Identify content gaps and areas for improvement to tackle during off-season lulls, and analyze customer behaviors to discover niche segments of seasonal traffic that are likely to prepurchase gear or book experiences early. Re-targeting ads to customers with a history of early-season purchases can help you connect with enthusiasts itching to get back to what they love.
Seasonal Outdoor Marketing Strategies
Outdoor brands with seasonal products can engage their customers during the off-season by hosting virtual events, featuring educational guides for next year’s pursuit, teasing product launches, and hosting contests and giveaways. Drumming up interest during slow times keeps a product top of mind and helps create relationships with customers who will remember your brand when the buying season begins.
Outdoor brands don’t need to adopt new channels to keep customer engagement alive through the off-season. A company’s website, social media feeds and email still provide excellent avenues to connect with customers longing for their next adventure.
Community-Building Campaigns
An outdoor brand shouldn’t extinguish its fire for engaging followers and customers when the off-season arrives. When people feel an affinity for a brand, their opinion often influences their purchase decisions. Those who normally buy based on price or convenience alone can be swayed by the emotional connections seasonal marketing campaigns create.
Seasonal community-building marketing events for an outdoor brand — like free skills clinics, virtual or in-store customer appreciation days and Q&A sessions with the founder — provide opportunities to connect with customers and form loyal bonds. Social media is a critical platform for nurturing these important customer relationships, but don’t overlook the power of email outreach to people researching and planning their next pursuit.
Giveaways and Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes don’t have an off-season, and these campaigns build brand awareness to keep a company from dropping off the map. Even if it isn’t time to pack a dry bag or suit up, outdoor enthusiasts still respond in droves to contests and giveaways. Handle this yourself or team up with a complementary brand to increase the visibility of your products with their audience. These campaigns can give your email or SMS lists a fresh set of subscribers and enhance your brand awareness during the off-season.
User-Generated Content Marketing Strategies
Many brands share user-generated content as part of their marketing strategy, and this can be a big help during off-season slides. A contest encourages participation so you get the best of the best entries. When everyday people sport your outerwear, gear or equipment in their photos, it gives your brand a relatable, authentic quality that’s hard to match. Plus, you’ll get loads of content you can post (contest rules permitting) and reshare to keep your brand relevant and visible year-round.
Preseason Marketing
Creating irresistible content can take time, effort and resources that you may not have available during a peak sales season. Outdoor brands should use slower seasons to invest in stunning imagery, detailed content guides and explainers, and cutting-edge video production. Launching a library of memorable content as the season nears cues your audience to start planning their next outing and reminds them that it’s time to gear up. When the opener hits, your content will already be making the rounds in email campaigns, social posts and web pages, beating competitors to the starting line.
Organic Marketing
Website optimization is a perfect off-season marketing project for outdoor brands wanting to boost their visibility in search results. SEO content strategies pay off long-term, keeping your company visible and your products relevant. If you’ve done your homework during the busy season, your data tracking and social insights should tell you who your customers are and their needs and interests. Now you can optimize your existing content and create fresh, targeted pieces to dominate the search results as individuals prep for their next adventure.
Review product descriptions for accuracy and interest, and create educational blog posts and product guides that position your brand as an authority. This is your chance to highlight your product quality, convenience, sustainability or other core values. Think about what novices just getting their toes wet need to know, then create blog posts and landing pages to target this audience as they shop for the upcoming season. What tips do your in-house experts have to offer seasoned explorers? Create in-depth articles on performance wear technology, product comparison guides, knife-sharpening techniques and other relevant content.
Remember that SEO goes beyond your website. Review your Google Business Profile, social accounts and listings in local business directories for brand voice, consistency, NAP (name, address and phone) and keyword targeting.
Anticipation Marketing Campaigns
Sneak peeks and launch announcements create hype around your brand to attract returning and new customers. Videos teasing an upcoming product or images hinting at the next launch keep people checking in with your brand. Behind-the-scenes content on the making-of or testing process gives customers a glimpse into the development and builds their interest in upgrading for the next season. If a product’s release schedule is managed carefully, people will remain interested without getting frustrated. A healthy balance of excitement and curiosity can offer excellent results for outdoor brands’ off-season marketing campaigns.
An effective marketing strategy can get outdoor enthusiasts to engage and purchase year-round, driving off-season sales and revenue. If you need help putting together an integrated campaign or developing high-level content that demands views, clicks and revenue-driven results in the off-season and beyond, contact us today.