Should We Pause Media Campaigns During a Slow Season?
Don’t forfeit your momentum by taking a break. Instead of stepping away, focus on new ways to connect with your audience and keep them engaged.
By Jordan Thomas
The summer slump. The holiday lull. An economic downturn. It can be tempting to pause your marketing efforts during these and other slow seasons, but that’s not the best idea.
Maintain Your Momentum
There are a few reasons why you shouldn’t pause your media campaigns when seasonal dips occur.
- It kills consistency. Successful campaigns send a consistent message and build your funnel. When you take a pause, you’re cutting off that funnel, keeping prospects from progressing and losing leads you’ll need when things pick up again.
- You cede ranking to the competition. Unless you’re confident your competitors are all taking a break, pausing your media campaigns can give them the upper hand. Your lack of activity causes your ad and search rankings to drop and theirs to rise. This can be especially risky if you have a competitor looking to capitalize on the gap you’ve left in the market.
- Trust takes a tumble. If you stop showing up, you start losing credibility.
How To Pivot Instead of Pausing
Instead of pausing, slow periods are the perfect time to stand out. That’s because at least some of your competitors will likely reduce their efforts, which will allow you to become more visible for less — and build momentum for when business resumes. Here are three ways to pivot instead of pause.
Predict, Prepare and Plan
Slow seasons are usually predictable. Smart marketers prepare for them. Start by analyzing your historical data to identify lulls and adjust your plan accordingly. You also can prepare by reaching out to key customers or market segments to better understand how and why their focus shifts during seasonal slumps. This can inform your plan to temporarily reallocate budget and efforts.
Don’t Cut, Curate
If you’re tempted to slash spending, remember marketing is an investment in your future success. So, focus on what’s successful — and do more of that. Evaluate past results and use that data to reallocate your budget in a way that optimizes what’s already working. Emphasize high-impact, low-cost channels and campaigns that drive actual revenue.
Look Inside Your Own House
Owned media often falls into the “set it and forget it” camp. But those assets — your website, blog, newsletter and social media profiles — are essential marketing tools. Plus, you can maximize their potential with minimal budget. Spend time ensuring your owned media is up to date, accessible and effective.
Maximize Your Marketing Dollars
We can help optimize your campaigns to ensure you connect with the right audiences — even during slow seasons.
Jordan is responsible for digital marketing strategy and campaign execution for Casual Astronaut. She has executed digital marketing campaigns for clients in the tourism, nonprofit, financial services, healthcare and education industries. Her experience includes SEO, SEM, programmatic advertising, social media marketing, email marketing and content strategy. As a digital marketer with a psychology research background, she is passionate about using data-backed insights to develop tactics that intersect human behavior and user behavior.
Outside of work, you can find Jordan attending a live music event, haunting a local thrift store or taking advantage of a weekend travel deal.