If you like decorating your house for the holidays, this is your season! Lights are going up soon. And if you have any inflatable snowmen, now is the time!
But in the off-season, how are you taking care of your house? Does your house look presentable? Is it turning heads with natural curb appeal? Or is it merely in the background until those seasons in which it shines?
Your marketing calendar is very similar to this house. During specific marketable seasons, you probably dedicate a lot of time and resources to making it look “pretty” and draw attention. But the front of your house is still there underneath the festive garb. What are you doing throughout the year to make sure it’s given the attention it needs and deserves?
Always-on campaigns are like the front of the house the rest of the year. They’re always there regardless of what you promote during specific, one-off campaigns. Always-on marketing is specifically useful for drawing the attention of your specific marketable demographics during the off-season.
For example, consider this case study of a national floral delivery service. During Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and the holiday season, they might promote services and fashion these promotions appropriately for each holiday. But throughout the year, they run a campaign centered around flowers for birthdays or maybe flowers for anniversaries. Birthdays and anniversaries happen year-round, and because of this, they use this time as an opportunity to secure new clients. They then fold those demographics into their targeting for their specific holiday campaigns.
So let’s talk about how this can apply to credit unions and your campaigns. For example, during the holidays, you probably run very specific promotions such as holiday loans for trips and gifts or a payment skipping option on loans to give your members a little extra cash during this season. But during the rest of the year, you could be running an auto loan campaign targeted at a specific age group, such as millennials.
The benefits of an always-on marketing strategy are two-fold. First of all, you are absolutely reaping the rewards of marketing year-round. You have more potential for conversions and tangible results if you aren’t limiting your marketing opportunities to specific seasonal campaigns. Secondly, you are also gathering valuable data on your target demographic that you can then use to further target your seasonal campaigns.
Let’s use our example above: if your target age group for your always-on campaign is the millennial, you can watch and evaluate how this campaign fares. If your marketing language and targeting get positive responses and results, then you can use this to make your seasonal campaigns far more effective. Poor results in the same way can inform you on how to market more effectively in the future and especially how not to market during your seasonal campaigns.
Always-on marketing isn’t just an option, it’s a necessity. In the information era, it’s incredibly important that you are not only available for your audience 24/7, but you are also marketing to them 365 days a year. Your brand needs to be that quiet voice constantly there whether or not there’s a huge marketing push. If you’re always on, you’re always noticed, and that is what will make your seasonal campaign stand out even more.
If you need support or advice in building your marketing plan, please reach out at bigideas@kearleya21.sg-host.com or find us on Twitter and Facebook @KearleyAndCo.
Source:
Marketing Land “Event-oriented vs. always-on: The campaign tactics that work“
