top of page

Developing a Marketing Strategy to Increase Revenue During Non-campaign Season for eCommerce Business

Writer's picture: GraasGraas

Updated: 3 days ago


eCommerce marketing strategy for campaign and non-campaign season

High-season sales around major holidays are often indicators of campaign success. 


However, focusing solely on these peak sales periods means brands miss crucial opportunities to lay the groundwork during non-campaign seasons and to bring in a steady flow of revenue year-round.


Developing a marketing strategy for both campaign and non-campaign seasons is essential for a business to remain profitable. 


In this blog, you’ll explore the importance of having a marketing strategy for both off and peak seasons and what they must entail. 



Campaign season strategy 

Consumers are more receptive to promotional campaigns during holidays and peak seasons. Aligning your marketing strategy and promotional efforts with these seasonal trends increases sales and engagement. 


Here are two steps you can take for a profitable campaign season:


1. Maximizing marketing efforts 

Capitalizing on holidays and special events means creating hyper-targeted campaigns to target a specific audience so they are more receptive to your messaging.  


Three marketing arenas to up your marketing efforts during the peak season are:


Email marketing 

Email is the basic, tried and tested marketing tactic that can reach a wide set of potential customers during the high season. 


Tip: Double down on your email marketing efforts by analyzing the previous year’s holiday email marketing campaigns to lay the blueprint for the current one. For example, finding what the peak conversion days were, which audience segment engaged and other data-backed copywriting techniques (CTA placement, urgency creation, specific offers, etc.) that worked.


Social media marketing

Social media helps promote a variety of offerings. From persuading past customers to buy again to attracting potential buyers, social media platforms reach diverse audiences. 


Tip: Instead of marketing on every social platform, analyze the ones your customers are most likely active on and check what kind of content fetches the highest engagement. 


Paid advertising 

Paid campaigns can help you reach a broader audience with a targeted messaging strategy. For example, personalize your ads to specific audience demographics, say seasonal deals for families. 


Tip: Using an eCommerce analytics tool can help decode the best-performing ads from the previous campaign season.


2. Optimize website for high traffic 

With increased website traffic during the peak season, inquiries about promotions, browsing, cart additions, returns, etc., can go through the roof.


Studies show that 57% of users leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. 


Optimizing your website before expecting the sales season rush, especially for mobile users, will help you avoid cart abandonment and provide visitors with a seamless purchasing experience.


Tip: Analyze the times where your website traffic was at its highest as most often there’s a pattern noticed during peak seasons. Conducting a thorough website performance audit can prepare you for such traffic spikes and expose problem areas. For example, fixing unoptimized images, annoying pop-up ads, slow-loading pages, etc., can save you from last-minute drop-offs.


Non-promotional period strategy 

Trends indicate modern consumers love to create new experiences for their family and friends all year round and not just during the holidays. That’s a great reason for eCommerce brands to promote experiences outside the busiest times.


The off-season or the non-promotional period is the best time to reintegrate brand awareness. So, here are five tips to maintain consistent revenue during the off-season:


1. Building brand awareness and engagement (TOFU metrics)

Busy times during the peak campaign season may have brought spreading brand awareness to a halt. 


So, the non-promotional period or the slow time can be your best bet to start reworking your brand awareness, customer engagement, and other top-of-the-funnel strategies like increasing social media reach and website traffic. 


These strategies can play a key role in influencing customer behavior and preparing for a future campaign season. 


For example, focus on creating informative content around topics your target audience may find relevant and initiate consistent social media engagement to attract new customers. 


2. Diversify product offerings, test new market segments, or advertise on different channels to expand your reach

Diversifying your offerings or testing new market segments are some of the best ways to reduce your dependency on a single source of revenue. 


For example, an eCommerce brand that primarily sells seasonal apparel, like winter clothing, can introduce complementary products such as layering essentials, winter accessories, or home decor items that appeal to its customer base year-round. 


By doing so, the brand can maintain customer engagement and sustain sales across seasons, avoiding dips in revenue during off-peak times. 


You could also consider advertising on channels you would otherwise not do during campaign season to widen your reach. For instance, discussion forums like Reddit or Quora where your target audience may be spending time. 


3. Customer retention with loyalty programs and personalized marketing strategies

A loyal customer base is the lifeblood of SMBs and startups. 


Offering special off-season discounts and loyalty programs that incentivize loyal customers during slower periods helps you build a strong customer base and a foolproof retention strategy regardless of the season. 


For example, implement a loyalty program that rewards repeat purchases via points earned on each purchase or offer freebies for successive purchases. 


Personalized marketing strategies are another secret to building long-lasting customer relationships. Customers love having a unique experience while engaging with a brand. To achieve this, you must analyze past data, such as their online purchasing patterns, interests, and preferences. 


For example, you can offer exclusive non-promotion-season discounts by analyzing customers’ product viewing histories or products added to the cart but abandoned. 


4. Strategic promotions - limited-time, bundle deals, free shipping

Strategic promotions aim to increase product demand by creating a natural desire for purchase. 


Use the non-campaign season to create a sense of urgency by offering limited-time deals on your customers’ most viewed or purchased products. For example, run two-for-one deals, early bird specials, and other time-limited offerings.


Bundled deals and just-for-the-day free shipping are also great strategic promotion ideas to fill up a low-demand day, say the weekday during the off-season. 


Bundled packages help increase the average order value (AOV) and can introduce your customers to new products they might’ve not considered purchasing while no-minimum-spend free shipping improves customer satisfaction. 


Conclusion 

The non-campaign season poses enormous opportunities for brand awareness and business growth. However, most eCommerce brands only prioritize campaign periods where promotional offers and heavy discounts take center stage to boost sales.


These promotional strategies are great for sudden surges, but diminish the impact non-promotional seasons can have on building customer loyalty and consistent revenue.


A blend of data-driven and customer-centric strategies lets you stay on top of both campaign and non-campaign seasons to maximize profitability. 


Let data drive your campaign decisions with solutions like Graas - Try Graas with a 30 Day Free Trial!

Comentarios


bottom of page