Is Your Peak Season Right Around the Corner?

Are You Winding Down or Heating Up?

Is the upcoming season usually busy for you? If so, what are you doing now to maximize your results?

Far too often we leave our promotional efforts until it's too late. The next thing we know, we find ourselves scrambling at the last minute, rushing our promotions and not maximizing on the time and money we spent.

If your peak season is 3 - 6 months away, then NOW is the time your marketing needs to kick into gear.

Here are some points on how to time out and plan your own marketing to take advantage of your peak season.

• Define Your Peak Seasons
• Plan Your Promotions
• Plot Your Course
• Make Your Appointments

Define Your Peak Seasons - If you don't already have one, purchase a one year giant calendar and start by marking your peak sales season (s), shoulder season(s) and low season(s).

Plan Your Promotions - Now determine where you need to focus your promotional efforts. Are they during your peak season? Do they run prior to it? Mark these promotional periods on your calendar.

Once you know when you are going to run your promotions, you need to define them. What are your goals? What marketing tools are you going to use to achieve these goals? What are your key promotional messages? How will you measure your efforts?

Plot Your Course - With your promotions defined, it is time to set out the appropriate action steps required, timelines and persons responsible. Go ahead and plot these on your calendar if you like, or enter them as TASKS in your Outlook.

Make Your Appointments - No doubt you are going to find that you have a lot to do in order to make your promotions a success. So how do you ensure that you will get it all done? Make an appointment - just like you would with a prospective client or long standing customer. Open up your calendars and allocate time every week to yourself and your marketing.

If you take the time to plan your marketing in this manner you will see that a strong strategy takes more time to implement than you think. By allocating the correct amount of time, you will meet with greater marketing success.


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About the Author

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success - a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

Feel free to use this article as long as you include the following:
by Cidnee Stephen of Strategies for Success http://www.strategiesforsuccess.ca