How to increase profits during your 'off season'

Learn 5 ways to keep sales growing during your business’s slower seasons

We get it. You’ve had an awesome sales quarter and business couldn’t be busier. With things going so well, you might not need to worry about decreased sales during the upcoming ‘off season’. So what should you focus on instead?
Just as professional athletes train in the off season, you too must take advantage of slower seasons. It’s a great opportunity to work on projects you just don’t have time for during the busier months.
Forgotten to-do items—such as updating your online platforms, analyzing your customer base or revising your marketing strategy—are all easy to ignore during a time crunch, but will bring a boost to your bottom line if you attend to them now.

If you keep your head in the game, you’ll help your profits flourish no matter the season. Here are our top 5 ways to grow ‘off season’ sales (that you haven’t thought of yet):

“Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today”. Seriously.

off season01
Quit putting off projects that will end up costing you big in the long run. Instead, try creating a “Downtime To-Do List”. When customer traffic gets low, you’ll have an action plan on standby to keep your team on task and business booming.
Do your marketing materials need serious updating? Have you been putting off a website redesign? Everyone knows there’s no second chance to make a first impression. No one wants to lose out on potential sales due to broken website links or outdated marketing materials.
Our marketing audit checklist can help you quickly analyze your performance and determine opportunities for growth. Feel free to print it out and use it for reference to help you keep your marketing efforts on track.

Stalk your target audience

off season02
When you try to market to everyone, you market to no one.
Want to increase sales during the off season? Save on advertising dollars by tailoring your marketing strategy to speak your ideal customer’s “language”.
How exactly can you determine your ideal customer? Start off by asking yourself questions like these:

Who/what inspired my business in the first place?
What are the demographics (gender, age, job, location) of who will be purchasing my product or service?
What problem(s) does my product or service solve?
Who are my competitors’ customers?

Once you have a better understanding of your target audience, you can use your findings to define your brand voice, optimize your website and generate engaging content that customers will actually respond to.

Stay on top of social media

off season03
Maintaining your online presence is what drives customer loyalty and brand awareness. Don’t be the business that customers “forgot about” due to lack of planning and poor time management. The more clients are routinely exposed to your brand, the more likely they are to trust in what you offer—and the more likely they go on to buy from you.
Take advantage of the fact that business is slow to go back and learn from the past. Which social media strategies led to increased sales, and which are just not worth repeating?
There’s no point recycling the same content creation or campaigning methods if they don’t result in increased brand awareness with your customer base.
The fix? Build an engaging social media presence with high-quality content and post consistently.

Generate a buzz

off season 04
Keep the conversation going with customers long after the busy season ends by giving them something to talk about.

“The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%”.

Source: Marketing Metrics [1]

When re-engaging with past customers, make it meaningful. Don’t create impersonal email campaigns that customers perceive to be too “salesy”.
Instead, provide real value that customers are not expecting. Learn to build credibility with your target audience by positioning your business as the industry expert using tools such as blog posts.
Blogs are your way to teach customers where to go when they are in need of specific information (i.e, your site). The best part? You can share them in multiple areas such as email campaigns or social media channels for double exposure.
Great topics to write about include trend updates, how to get the best out of their product or service, the story of your brand, special offers, and customer successes.

Plan for busier times

off season05
Even if you’re the type that thrives on deadlines, it’s easy to make poor decisions when the pressure is high.
By tackling side projects during slow seasons, you are more likely to produce higher quality work that is truly aligned with your bigger goals.
Learning about the latest creative skills, useful technologies, social media management tools or new customer service techniques can all help your business run a lot smoother come high traffic seasons.
With so much information available, you will be glad you did this during the slow season and not when you have more pressing issues going on.

You’ll offset decreased traffic by working smart during slower months. By crafting a solid downtime plan, you’ll capitalize during your business’s ‘off season’ and keep sales profits high all year round.
Plus, it’s your chance to follow through with all those cool ideas you said you’ve always wanted to try. You’re welcome.

Need help revamping your branding, website or marketing strategy?
We have over 14 years of experience helping businesses like yours stand out, build customer loyalty and boost profits, with our comprehensive branding, web design and marketing services.
Ready to review your strategy? Contact us today.

Sources:

Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Market Performance

Back to all blogs