The winter and spring seasons are approaching! It’s important, now, for all businesses to be aware of the upcoming seasonal changes and how they might affect your business throughout the year. Changes in marketing, staff, inventory, pricing, etc. may have to take place in anticipation of the affect any season may have on a business. Weather, holidays, etc. are all part of ‘seasonal’ changes. Seasonality is a characteristic of any predictable change or pattern in a span of time that repeats over a one-year period.

Seasonal forecasting is important for businesses in order to know when they must prepare for rises and falls in their sales cycles. No matter the month, it’s necessary to understand seasonality in order to remain competitive throughout the year. Planning for the calendar year is a good way to research and understand what opportunities will allow you to speak to your target audience and build and maintain awareness of your business. Marketing and advertising opportunities typically require lead-time so planning early will allow you to capitalize on them.

Right now, most media businesses are selling for the January advertising season. For example, businesses that experience a great amount of influx in January include pre-schools, camps, gyms, health centers, and personal trainers (due to hopeful resolutions made in the new year)! Don’t forget about tax season! From January to April, financial businesses experience their busiest time of the year. Even the real estate business is starting to heat up with the impending spring selling season. These businesses should be identifying and planning for media opportunities that will appear in January and the first quarter of the year.

Even if your business is not affected by seasonality, make it a point to maintain visibility and engagement with your customer base throughout the year. Be creative about finding ways to stay in touch with them all year round. It’s a great way to turn one-time customers into repeat clients.

Advertising can be your most powerful tool in building brand awareness. And, if your business is affected by seasonality (both negative or positive impact), then it’s imperative to increase that awareness throughout that time. For local businesses, hyper-local and targeted advertising like in-store supermarket advertising is an extremely effective way to get your message (seasonal or not) in front of your local prospects.