January 23, 2025 • 27 mins
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With Christmas behind us, you might think the big seasonal event of the year is over, and it’s back to business as usual. But today, I want to shine a light on the many seasonal opportunities throughout the year that can help you create excitement and drive more sales.
Seasonal events like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, and Father’s Day are fantastic opportunities to connect with your audience in fresh, creative ways— without relying on discounts.
And don’t overlook more niche events that might align perfectly with your business. As you listen, think about how these moments can inspire your marketing and spark your customer’s imagination.
[0:00] 4 seasonal events to drive sales early in the year
[05:01] Why seasonal events matter for growth
[07:55] How to work out which seasonal events are right for you
[10:53] 3 ways to build a campaign with real impact
[18:59] Make sure your campaign can keep delivering over time
[21:04] Why opting out of seasonal emails might not be as effective anymore
[23:08] What to avoid when planning seasonal events
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So with Christmas well behind us,maybe you're thinking that the big
(00:03):
seasonal event of the year is doneand we're back to business as usual.
Well, in today's episode, what I wantedto highlight is all of the different
other seasonal opportunities that thereare throughout the year and really
encourage you to think about how you canuse those to drive your sales as well.
Hi, I'm Catherine Erdly.
I'm the founder of the ResilientRetail Club, and I'm also
(00:24):
the host of today's podcast.
I'm a small business and retail expertwith 24 years in the retail industry.
And I want to tell you all abouthow you can use your seasonal
events to drive your sales.
Welcome to the Resilient RetailGame Plan, a podcast for anyone
(00:47):
wanting to start, grow or scalea profitable creative product
business with me, Catherine Eardley.
The Resilient Retail Game Plan isa podcast dedicated to one thing,
breaking down the concepts and toolsthat I've gathered from 20 years in
the retail industry and showing youhow you can use them in your business.
This is the real nuts and bolts ofrunning a successful product business,
(01:10):
broken down in an easy, accessible way.
This is not a podcast about learninghow to make your business look good.
It's the tools and techniques that willmake you and your business feel good.
Confidently plan, launch, and manageyour products, and feel in control of
your sales numbers and cash flow to helpyou build a resilient retail business.
(01:38):
The reason that I wanted to do thisepisode is that one of the big things that
I often talk to people about is how tolook for ways to talk to their customers
and to create promotions, themes aroundtheir business that doesn't necessarily
have anything to do with discounts.
But it's something that gives youan opportunity to talk to your
customer about something differentand to really communicate with
(01:59):
them and excite their imagination.
And I wanted to talk about seasonal eventsbecause we are running into a time of
year where there are a lot of different,big tentpole events, as the phrase goes.
I like that phrase.
That kind of events that arepropping up can prop up your sales
throughout the whole first halfof the year if you want them to.
(02:21):
And those are Valentine's, Mother's Day,Easter, Father's Day are the big four.
And there may be other ones as well.
In fact, as you're listening to today'sepisode, I would really encourage you
to think about any events that couldbe used in a similar way, but maybe
are really specific to your business.
World Book Day, for example,could be another one.
(02:41):
Or things to do with Earth Day.
Or Fair Trade Fortnight or anythinglike that, but really thinking
about them all in a similar way.
So we have got the big events andthen we've got the small events.
But really your approach tothem can be quite similar.
You can become quite consistent.
In a way, everything that we talkabout for Christmas, thinking about
(03:02):
themed marketing, thinking aboutgetting yourself ready in lots of time.
That's all really relevant tothese seasonal events as well,
albeit on a smaller scale.
For most people, Christmas willremain your biggest event of the year.
But what I wanted to do todaywas really encourage you to think
strategically about how to usethese events to drive your sales.
And the reason that I am passionate aboutthis topic is because I do think it's
(03:26):
something that is slightly underused now,obviously some small business owners.
You'll be listening to this thinking,"Yeah, I've got this nailed."
I know what i'm doing for allof these different events.
But then for some of you, you may findyourself kind of waking up on the 7th
of February and thinking, "Oh, maybe Ishould do something for Valentine's Day."
And really one of the big differencesthat I see between big business
that I spent, you know, nearlytwo decades in big businesses.
(03:49):
They really, really had this nailed.
They thought very carefullyabout their offering for all
of the different occasions.
They might even create fullranges, or full product
selections just for that event.
And they never left it to chance.
It was always planned out well in advanceand usually up to a year in advance.
So Valentine's 2025, for example, formost retailers probably began thinking
(04:14):
about it straight after Valentine's 2024.
And I do think as small businessowners you've got the added
benefit that you can be flexible.
I'm not saying that you have toget absolutely everything mapped
out to the nth degree far inadvance, in a year in advance.
You can be much more reactive.
But it's striking the balancebetween being able to be responsive
(04:34):
and leaving yourself feelinglike you're always scrambling.
If you are a gift giving brand,then Valentine's and Mother's Day,
particularly if you've got a strongfemale customer base, then they are
really, really key events for you.
So these are not things thatyou want to leave to chance.
And I definitely recommend that youat least think about incorporating
(04:58):
them into your marketing planfor the first half of the year.
So, why is it important or why areseasonal events a growth opportunity?
Well, put most basically, this is a timewhen consumers have a reason to buy.
Customers are primed to spend,they're looking for gifts, they're
looking for deals, they're lookingfor experiences, and so I often talk
(05:18):
about retail as a game of probability.
And you want to be thinking aboutwhether it should be on your marketing,
on your website, in your store.
When you're leading at a certain time youwant to be leading with the thing that
people are most likely to be looking for.
So these seasonal events, these are greatopportunities for you to align what you're
(05:39):
leading with what your customer wants.
They're not always that obvious.
They're not always that apparent.
You often have to put a lot of timeand thought and effort at other
times of the year into thinkingwhat people might be looking for.
But realistically, on the 7th ofFebruary, people are most likely if
you're a gifting brand to be lookingfor a Valentine's or Palentine's, or
(05:59):
pet Valentine's, whatever it is, they'regoing to be looking for that kind of gift.
So the seasonal events, they providemaybe a natural hook for your marketing.
They help you stand out and theyhelp you talk directly to what
your customer is thinking about.
People's spending behaviorsoften influenced by the zeitgeist
(06:19):
as it were, what's going onall around them at the time.
So if they're immersed deep intoValentine's, it's also going to
create less resistance to buyingfrom you if what you're offering
is tying in with that as well.
The other reason that I likeseasonal events is that they
can actually be quite fun.
I think that they can be reallyfun if you almost think about it
like a creative writing prompt.
(06:41):
I don't know if you've ever done creativewriting, maybe at school or maybe you've
done a course or something like that.
But very often what you'regiven is like a prompt.
You have to come up with a story arounda particular theme that you're given.
And then you have tokind of see how it goes.
You can make it work for what you wantto write about and it's often like that
with these seasonal events It can be quitea fun way of embracing your creativity.
(07:05):
Okay.
Well, how would I createsomething around Mother's Day?
How would I create somethingaround Father's Day?
And it's not to say that everyevent or every seasonal event is
right for you as a business owner.
You do have to think aboutthe ones that work for you,
and some will and some won't.
And sometimes you have to experiment aswell, but also you can embrace it as a
bit of a creative prompt if you like.
(07:26):
Or think of it as yourcreative writing prompt.
And also to be honest sometimes weekin, week out coming up with ideas and
plans for your marketing can be tricky.
If you know that you've got going tobe talking about Mother's Day for four
weeks in a row, then that's actuallyquite a good thing because it's telling
you, right, I'm going to talk about this.
You don't have to thinkmuch deeper than that.
(07:47):
You can just be really clear that at thispoint in time, customers are most likely
to be looking for a Mother's Day gift.
Therefore that's what I'm goingto be thinking and talking about.
So how do you work out whatare the right ones for you?
Well, I think ultimatelypartly it's about your product.
So clearly if you sell things mainlyaimed at men, then probably Mother's Day
(08:09):
is not going to be a great one for you.
But then Father's Day might be brilliant.
If you sell things mainly for women,then perhaps Father's Day is not going
to be the greatest event for you.
So there will be some things that arepretty obvious that they just won't work.
Some things you maybe aren't reallysure or never really tried, in which
case it's always good to experiment.
(08:31):
And I would say even if you've triedit before but it didn't work, I
still think it's worth trying itagain in a different way, just in
case you haven't quite captured whatthe customer wants at that time.
I mean, obviously, if you don't keepflogging a dead horse, but there's
a lot of things that you can do.
If you have really just triedsomething once and you didn't
really put that much effort into it.
And you just sent out one emailtalking about your Valentine's Day
(08:53):
offer and that was all, then thatis maybe something that is worth
exploring again in a different way.
Also, just to say, don't forget,we're not always thinking, right, on
Valentine's Day, I'm going to sendout an email featuring my pink and red
jewelry and expect to sell loads of it.
What you might find is that just thefact you sent that email and it looked
(09:14):
interesting, people clicked on it.
They may have gone to your website andbought something completely different.
This isn't always about selling veryspecifically something for that occasion.
It's about just being there present andrelevant at the time that your customers
are thinking about a certain event.
Think about your target audience.
Think about what would align with them.
This is when you can also start thinkingabout those smaller events as well.
(09:34):
So like the less saturated or more nicheevents, something like World Book Day or
International Coffee Day, for example.
Who knows?
Those could be things thatyou could consider as well.
There are always, if youGoogle "awareness days,"
you'll get a list of awareness days.
If you're inside the ResilientRetail Club, we have got our
monthly marketing planners.
They have awareness days on as well.
(09:55):
But it's worth just having a lookthrough and thinking about the
ones that would really resonate.
And really ultimately, it'sabout getting prepared.
In an ideal world, you'd be lookingtwo to three months ahead, at
least for your general outline.
So for example, at this pointnow, having a think about what
you'd want to do for Valentine's,Mother's Day, Easter, for example,
would be a really good place to be.
(10:17):
Now for some of you, especially ifyou're card brands who wholesale, I
know that sounds specific, butthere are a lot of you out there.
You may well have already created theseranges, because retailers often will be
in the January and February trade showsbuying for those particular events.
So you may have already got this allsorted, but for everybody else, that's
the kind of thing I think two to threemonths ahead is probably a really
(10:37):
good place for you to look at andthink about, you know, do you want to
create new products for these events?
Do you want to just think about maybeslightly amending existing products?
Like, what do you want to do?
But you need to give yourself time toactually think and plan this stuff out.
So now that you have selectedthe events that you want to focus
on, how do you actually go aboutcreating a campaign that has impact?
(11:00):
Well, first off, I would encourageyou to think about a theme.
Now, it doesn't have to besuper inventive and different.
It could just be, you know, Valentine'sgifts for you or Valentine's
gifts for your loved ones orValentine's gifts for your friends.
It could be something as simple as that,but do think about giving a campaign or
(11:21):
a series of marketing event activities.
Basically do think about givingit a particular unique identity,
just like you did at Christmas.
So you may well havehad Christmas Imagery.
You may have had Christmas graphics orChristmas color schemes that you use.
You can do exactly the samething for these festive events.
Now, it doesn't mean that you have togo out there and pay out for additional
(11:44):
imagery, which can be very expensive.
It could be that you maybe slightlyamend things that you've already
got, or you just select the thingsthat really fit with your theme.
So think about the colors, the language,the kind of imagery that all feeds
into that particular type of event.
And then think about creating a bitof an identity for that campaign.
(12:09):
So for example, summer can also beequally could be a seasonal campaign.
There's lots of things you could doaround sunshine savings or something
to do with, you know, getting outthere and enjoying the summer.
So if you were doing a summer campaign,you might choose very bright, colorful
colors and just give it an overall kindof identity that still fits within your
(12:34):
brand, but makes people really understandthat this is a coherent campaign.
So we're going to talk a littlebit more about touch points later
on, but consistency builds trust.
If your customer sees an email thatmatches a graphic on your homepage,
matches some of your social media graphicsor matches what's in your window, then
that does give them a feeling of trustand consistency that is really helpful.
(12:58):
And also because it's actuallyfrustrating if you're a customer, I
don't know if you've ever had thisexperience from a customer perspective.
But let's say somebody sends out anemail talking about their Valentine's
Day range, and then you go onto theirwebsite and you actually can't find
what they talked about in the email,then that can be frustrating in itself.
So do think about givingsomething a complete identity.
(13:19):
And just making it consistentacross touch points.
Now, we're not talking abouthaving to go out and create
bespoke graphics for everything.
If you really feel like actually, I reallydon't want to do something that isn't in
my brand colors or doesn't really work.
My branding doesn't really work like that.
Then you could just think aboutthe language or the look of what
the campaign is going to be aboutand creating a similar tone.
(13:42):
Or a similar language, vocabularythat will work for the whole
campaign across all touch points.
Even if visually then you'resticking with your main branding.
So that is the the first thing tothink about is creating a theme.
And this is the bitwhere I can get creative.
If you are somebody who reallyenjoys coming up with creative ideas.
Like think about what doesValentine's mean to you?
Or what does Mother's Day mean for you?
(14:03):
Do you want to talk about like acelebration of women and turn Mother's
Day into a whole celebration ofwomen who help us in different ways?
Even if they're mothers orwomen who support us and have
nurtured us in different ways?
And what could that mean?
Could you do series ofblog posts about it?
Or a social media post?
Or it's like getting people to celebrateor nominate people who've played
(14:26):
an important role in their lives.
There's all different kinds of thingsthat you can do, but it's good to
start with that idea of a theme.
And yeah have some fun with it.
The second thing is think aboutwhat you're then offering.
So this is the perfect timeyou can certainly think
about bundles is a good one.
So for example, people with gift giving,they often want to be able to just
(14:46):
select something and have it sent.
If you know people are selectinga Valentine's Day gift, you may
want to select various differentitems and put them together.
Now, maybe there's a slightdiscount for buying multiple items.
Maybe it's that there's no discount,but you put it in a gift box.
For example, there's lots of differentthings that you can do there, but do
think about theming some offers aroundthe time of year and that tie in.
(15:13):
So for example, if you're a candlebrand and it's Mother's Day, you
could have a special gift box thatis a candle for your mother and an
eye pillow or something like that.
Something that makes itreally nice and relaxing.
But thinking about, just likewe talked about the Christmas,
thinking about gifting, thinkingabout what could you pull together.
(15:34):
It's also a really, really fun wayof tying in things like limited
time offers or exclusive products.
So for example, you might collaborate,let's say, go back to the idea of
a candle brand, collaborating witha local artist to create a specific
range of Valentine's themed candles.
(15:56):
And it could be that the packaging isparticularly themed, but it's limited
edition and it's just, you know,small quantity or something like that.
So that's another way of creatingexcitement, but it's easier to do
that once you've got that theme.
So if you know what your theme is, giftsfor friends is going to be your theme,
Palantine's is going to be your theme.
Then that can really feed into whatproducts you want to pull together.
(16:19):
And you know, you definitelydon't have to create specific
products for each seasonal holiday.
But you can think about it if you wantto, if you want to add in those little
extras or those little additional sortof limited edition, it all helps add to
the buzz and helps add to the excitement.
You can, of course, do discountsif you want to some people
(16:40):
will do offers Valentine's Dayoffers or Mother's Day offers.
But actually I thinkthat doesn't sit as well.
I think that the discounting messagetypically works best for sort of clearance
whereas almost what the promotionis that you've got this great range
and you're going to solve all of theirgifting problems You're going to make
it all brilliant for them, and they'regoing to get loads of brownie points
(17:02):
from either their Valentine, theirPalantine, or their mother or father or
whoever it is that they're buying for.
That's kind of the hook, if you like you.
So I wouldn't really necessarilybe focused on using discounts here.
But as I said, maybe something like amulti buy, or a bundle where they get a
small discount for buying multiple things.
But really it's more about focusingon some really great product that
(17:24):
they absolutely want to have.
The other thing to do isbuilding anticipation.
So again, just like a Christmas gettingready to launch your Christmas range,
you can definitely as well as the timewhich you'll be promoting these products,
definitely think about a full launch.
So teasing your launch ahead oftime, you can do email previews, you
(17:45):
could do countdowns, you can do sneakpeeks on social media, and that's
all a really good way to create thatbuzz and create that excitement.
Definitely think about engaging yourcustomers, host polls, contests,
themed giveaways, that could allbe part of an overall campaign.
So for example, for Mother's Day, youcould have a whole campaign where you're
(18:05):
talking about nominate the importantwomen in your life or something like
that, and then one of them wins something.
That's a good way of creating a feelgood campaign, but equally showcasing
what you've got for Mother's Day.
And then really the key thingthat I want to highlight here is
just to stress the importance ofconsistency across your touch points.
(18:26):
This is why I like to have thingslike my launch planner that you
can get inside the membership.
Where you sit down andyou go through, right?
What am I saying on social media?
What am I saying in my emails?
What's on my home page?
Like everything just to match,to be consistent, whether it's
shop windows, whatever it is.
But making sure that everything issaying the same thing at the same time.
(18:46):
May seem like it's boring or not engaging,but actually it really helps again
grow that trust and really encouragesa clarity of message across all of
your various different touch points.
So once we've done this, once wehave created this campaign, how
can it help us on an ongoing basis?
Well, firstly, it's a great way to capturenew customers, to give them a new reason
(19:11):
to buy, even if they've followed youfor a while but they haven't purchased.
Then sometimes these seasonal eventscan be that kind of trigger point
that makes them think, "oh yes, I'vefollowed these people for a while,
but now I'd love to actually go aheadand buy from them because they've
presented me a great gift idea.
And I need that forthis particular season.
So make sure that yougather customer information.
(19:33):
If you are doing any kind ofpromotions, giveaways, then definitely
try and get email addresses.
That is by far the most usefulthing that you can collect.
And then also think about using thisas a springboard for repeat purchasing.
So an example I've used before is alocal florist who sends an email to my
(19:54):
husband every year ahead of Valentine'sDay, saying Valentine's Day is coming up.
You bought from us last year.
Can we help you this year?
And that's easy for him,easy for them and great me.
So it's a win, win, winsituation all round.
And I think that seasonal events arereally, really great way to really hook
into your customers, repeat purchasing.
(20:17):
And you could try the same thing, ifyou've got data of people you've bought
from you last year for Mother's Dayor Valentine's Day, you could send
them a simple email that just says,Hey, just wanted to check in and let
you know all about what we've gotthis year for our Mother's Day range,"
for example, and just make sure aswell that you gather testimonials.
(20:37):
And if you're getting any photos andyou use the generated content sent
in, this is a really great thing foryou to capture because it can really
make a great base for future years.
For example, if you had a reallygreat quote from somebody who said,
my dad was overjoyed with this.
He said it was the bestFather's Day gift he's ever had.
Then absolutely.
(20:59):
That's a great thing for you tothen use to build off for the
future for future events as well.
I just want to touch on aswell, actually, a quick one.
Because this is something that hadreally grew over the last few years,
is this idea of allowing your customersto opt out of seasonal campaigns.
It's something that we allneed to decide for a long time.
(21:20):
I thought it was a reallypositive development.
I was just kind of a side note, but Ithink it's worth mentioning it because
it's a question that comes up a lotis that, if you send an email out
to your customers that say, if youdon't want to hear about Mother's Day,
then click here and we will, and wewon't send you any more information.
We won't unsubscribe you,but we just won't send you
any Mother's Day information.
(21:41):
And for a long time that felt like itwas a really positive thing to do to be
able to, if you've got the capabilityand you know, several email types of
email software will let you sort of tagpeople if they click on something and then
exclude them from Mother's Day emails.
It is something that, for a long time,I felt was a positive because it was
about communicating with your customer.
(22:01):
I think this last year in 2024, it wasalmost a bit of a tipping point where
people were getting inundated with emailsasking them if they wanted to unsubscribe.
And it was almost making it worse.
Because if it wasn't a great time ofyear for you, then you then had all
these emails asking you to unsubscribe.
So I think it's something that you haveto just decide if you've always done it
(22:22):
and you get a good response from yourcustomers for doing it, then continue.
I don't think it's necessarily harmful.
But I think that before I thoughtit was definitely the way to go, to
let people opt out, but I feel likenow it's got a bit of bad press last
year for being a bit overwhelming.
So just think about that,whether or not you want to do it.
(22:43):
I mean, I think most people, ifthey are not in the market for
that particular event, they'llprobably just ignore the emails.
And there is always an argumentthat says with emails, even if
someone deletes your email, it'sstill a reminder that you exist.
So who knows?
Maybe that's okay.
People have very strongopinions about this.
If you feel very strongly that youshould offer people the opportunity
to opt out, then go for it.
(23:05):
But it's just an interestingone, a little bit nuanced.
What not to do then, whenit comes to seasonal events.
I think the key things really withseasonal events is don't rush it.
Don't leave it to the last minute.
Yes, you're not going to necessarilyget absolutely everything planned out.
But do spend some time thinkingabout the year coming up, and
what the seasonal events mightbe, and what you want to do for.
(23:26):
It will also help you withyour overall planning.
Because I often find that once we factorin various different seasonal events.
Then we start seeing where there are gaps,where people aren't launching products for
awhile, there aren't any seasonal events.
And then that's when you can startbrainstorming what some other
ideas might be for your marketing.
As opposed to this relentlessfeeling of waking up every day
(23:48):
or every week and thinking, whatam I going to talk about now?
Don't ignore your brand voice.
If you are very sarcastic anddry, then be sarcastic and dry
at Valentine's Day, Mother's Day.
It's okay.
You can do that because thepeople who are respond well to
your voice will respond to that.
If you're very practical, make itvery about very practical Valentine's
(24:10):
gifts and Mother's Day gifts.
Don't feel like you have to changeyour tone, the way that you talk
to your customer, just becauseit's a particular time of year.
I don't actually think you haveto spend a lot of money, or almost
any money, a lot of the time onthese seasonal marketing campaigns.
Just think about using theassets you've already got.
I think if you, especially if you'renot sure if this is an event or an
(24:33):
occasion that your customer really willrespond to, don't invest loads of money
on products that you can only sell atthat time and create those infamous
brown bananas, things that expire.
So for example, Be My Valentine.
It's very hard to shifton the 15th of February.
So for the most part, what we're talkingabout is not necessarily creating
new products or buying new productsin more about how do we curate and
(24:56):
market the ones that we've already got.
If you've got a really strong establishedseasonal pattern and you know that
Mother's Day is the absolute pinnacleof your selling, then there may be some
things that you want to do around thatand to consider some specific products.
But for most people it's going to be aboutusing the ones that they've already got.
And don't spread yourself too thin.
(25:19):
Don't pile too many messages on topof each other if, for example, Easter.
You know is just not really goingto be your thing then that's fine.
You could do some other kind of messaging.
You can also, I mean, seasonsthemselves are seasonal events.
Which sounds a silly thing tosay, but what I mean by that is,
you know, the turn of the season.
So spring in itself canbe a seasonal event.
(25:39):
Summer certainly is.
Autumn, almost like you can lookat the time of year and use that as
inspiration of what to talk about.
So really just think about what yourcustomer wants, what works for you as a
brand, and then space out your messagingso that you're not trying to talk about
too many things all at the same time.
Just to recap then.
Seasonal events, they're morethan just sales opportunities.
They are moments that youcan connect with customers.
(26:01):
You can create long term customers.
They are opportunities to be creative,flex your creative muscles and come up
with some ways of thinking about themand talking about them and have some fun.
Choose the ones that you think alignwith you, align with your customer.
Don't change your tone of voice forit, but think about how you can make it
work for you and, as I said, enjoy it.
(26:25):
Have a look at what's coming up.
Don't feel rushed.
Give yourself a bit of time and spaceand all of that together will mean
that you are maximizing yourselves,opportunities and having a bit of fun
with some creativity as well as gettingyourself ready for the year ahead.
So if you've enjoyed today'sepisode, I would love for you
(26:45):
to share it with a friend.
Do come over to Instagramat Resilient Retail Club.
Let me know what you thought of today'sepisode and let me know what seasonal
event you will be participating in.
If you have a moment to rate andreview the podcast on Apple podcasts,
that makes a huge difference togetting out in front of more people.
If you can rate it in Spotify, thenthat would be fantastic as well.
(27:06):
And of course, if you like, subscribe,follow, whatever it's called on the
platform that you're on, then you'll bethe first to know about every new episode
that comes out on the Thursday morning.
See you next week.
So with Christmas well behind us,maybe you're thinking that the big
(00:03):
seasonal event of the year is doneand we're back to business as usual.
Well, in today's episode, what I wantedto highlight is all of the different
other seasonal opportunities that thereare throughout the year and really
encourage you to think about how you canuse those to drive your sales as well.
Hi, I'm Catherine Erdly.
I'm the founder of the ResilientRetail Club, and I'm also
(00:24):
the host of today's podcast.
I'm a small business and retail expertwith 24 years in the retail industry.
And I want to tell you all abouthow you can use your seasonal
events to drive your sales.
Welcome to the Resilient RetailGame Plan, a podcast for anyone
(00:47):
wanting to start, grow or scalea profitable creative product
business with me, Catherine Eardley.
The Resilient Retail Game Plan isa podcast dedicated to one thing,
breaking down the concepts and toolsthat I've gathered from 20 years in
the retail industry and showing youhow you can use them in your business.
This is the real nuts and bolts ofrunning a successful product business,
(01:10):
broken down in an easy, accessible way.
This is not a podcast about learninghow to make your business look good.
It's the tools and techniques that willmake you and your business feel good.
Confidently plan, launch, and manageyour products, and feel in control of
your sales numbers and cash flow to helpyou build a resilient retail business.
(01:38):
The reason that I wanted to do thisepisode is that one of the big things that
I often talk to people about is how tolook for ways to talk to their customers
and to create promotions, themes aroundtheir business that doesn't necessarily
have anything to do with discounts.
But it's something that gives youan opportunity to talk to your
customer about something differentand to really communicate with
(01:59):
them and excite their imagination.
And I wanted to talk about seasonal eventsbecause we are running into a time of
year where there are a lot of different,big tentpole events, as the phrase goes.
I like that phrase.
That kind of events that arepropping up can prop up your sales
throughout the whole first halfof the year if you want them to.
(02:21):
And those are Valentine's, Mother's Day,Easter, Father's Day are the big four.
And there may be other ones as well.
In fact, as you're listening to today'sepisode, I would really encourage you
to think about any events that couldbe used in a similar way, but maybe
are really specific to your business.
World Book Day, for example,could be another one.
(02:41):
Or things to do with Earth Day.
Or Fair Trade Fortnight or anythinglike that, but really thinking
about them all in a similar way.
So we have got the big events andthen we've got the small events.
But really your approach tothem can be quite similar.
You can become quite consistent.
In a way, everything that we talkabout for Christmas, thinking about
(03:02):
themed marketing, thinking aboutgetting yourself ready in lots of time.
That's all really relevant tothese seasonal events as well,
albeit on a smaller scale.
For most people, Christmas willremain your biggest event of the year.
But what I wanted to do todaywas really encourage you to think
strategically about how to usethese events to drive your sales.
And the reason that I am passionate aboutthis topic is because I do think it's
(03:26):
something that is slightly underused now,obviously some small business owners.
You'll be listening to this thinking,"Yeah, I've got this nailed."
I know what i'm doing for allof these different events.
But then for some of you, you may findyourself kind of waking up on the 7th
of February and thinking, "Oh, maybe Ishould do something for Valentine's Day."
And really one of the big differencesthat I see between big business
that I spent, you know, nearlytwo decades in big businesses.
(03:49):
They really, really had this nailed.
They thought very carefullyabout their offering for all
of the different occasions.
They might even create fullranges, or full product
selections just for that event.
And they never left it to chance.
It was always planned out well in advanceand usually up to a year in advance.
So Valentine's 2025, for example, formost retailers probably began thinking
(04:14):
about it straight after Valentine's 2024.
And I do think as small businessowners you've got the added
benefit that you can be flexible.
I'm not saying that you have toget absolutely everything mapped
out to the nth degree far inadvance, in a year in advance.
You can be much more reactive.
But it's striking the balancebetween being able to be responsive
(04:34):
and leaving yourself feelinglike you're always scrambling.
If you are a gift giving brand,then Valentine's and Mother's Day,
particularly if you've got a strongfemale customer base, then they are
really, really key events for you.
So these are not things thatyou want to leave to chance.
And I definitely recommend that youat least think about incorporating
(04:58):
them into your marketing planfor the first half of the year.
So, why is it important or why areseasonal events a growth opportunity?
Well, put most basically, this is a timewhen consumers have a reason to buy.
Customers are primed to spend,they're looking for gifts, they're
looking for deals, they're lookingfor experiences, and so I often talk
(05:18):
about retail as a game of probability.
And you want to be thinking aboutwhether it should be on your marketing,
on your website, in your store.
When you're leading at a certain time youwant to be leading with the thing that
people are most likely to be looking for.
So these seasonal events, these are greatopportunities for you to align what you're
(05:39):
leading with what your customer wants.
They're not always that obvious.
They're not always that apparent.
You often have to put a lot of timeand thought and effort at other
times of the year into thinkingwhat people might be looking for.
But realistically, on the 7th ofFebruary, people are most likely if
you're a gifting brand to be lookingfor a Valentine's or Palentine's, or
(05:59):
pet Valentine's, whatever it is, they'regoing to be looking for that kind of gift.
So the seasonal events, they providemaybe a natural hook for your marketing.
They help you stand out and theyhelp you talk directly to what
your customer is thinking about.
People's spending behaviorsoften influenced by the zeitgeist
(06:19):
as it were, what's going onall around them at the time.
So if they're immersed deep intoValentine's, it's also going to
create less resistance to buyingfrom you if what you're offering
is tying in with that as well.
The other reason that I likeseasonal events is that they
can actually be quite fun.
I think that they can be reallyfun if you almost think about it
like a creative writing prompt.
(06:41):
I don't know if you've ever done creativewriting, maybe at school or maybe you've
done a course or something like that.
But very often what you'regiven is like a prompt.
You have to come up with a story arounda particular theme that you're given.
And then you have tokind of see how it goes.
You can make it work for what you wantto write about and it's often like that
with these seasonal events It can be quitea fun way of embracing your creativity.
(07:05):
Okay.
Well, how would I createsomething around Mother's Day?
How would I create somethingaround Father's Day?
And it's not to say that everyevent or every seasonal event is
right for you as a business owner.
You do have to think aboutthe ones that work for you,
and some will and some won't.
And sometimes you have to experiment aswell, but also you can embrace it as a
bit of a creative prompt if you like.
(07:26):
Or think of it as yourcreative writing prompt.
And also to be honest sometimes weekin, week out coming up with ideas and
plans for your marketing can be tricky.
If you know that you've got going tobe talking about Mother's Day for four
weeks in a row, then that's actuallyquite a good thing because it's telling
you, right, I'm going to talk about this.
You don't have to thinkmuch deeper than that.
(07:47):
You can just be really clear that at thispoint in time, customers are most likely
to be looking for a Mother's Day gift.
Therefore that's what I'm goingto be thinking and talking about.
So how do you work out whatare the right ones for you?
Well, I think ultimatelypartly it's about your product.
So clearly if you sell things mainlyaimed at men, then probably Mother's Day
(08:09):
is not going to be a great one for you.
But then Father's Day might be brilliant.
If you sell things mainly for women,then perhaps Father's Day is not going
to be the greatest event for you.
So there will be some things that arepretty obvious that they just won't work.
Some things you maybe aren't reallysure or never really tried, in which
case it's always good to experiment.
(08:31):
And I would say even if you've triedit before but it didn't work, I
still think it's worth trying itagain in a different way, just in
case you haven't quite captured whatthe customer wants at that time.
I mean, obviously, if you don't keepflogging a dead horse, but there's
a lot of things that you can do.
If you have really just triedsomething once and you didn't
really put that much effort into it.
And you just sent out one emailtalking about your Valentine's Day
(08:53):
offer and that was all, then thatis maybe something that is worth
exploring again in a different way.
Also, just to say, don't forget,we're not always thinking, right, on
Valentine's Day, I'm going to sendout an email featuring my pink and red
jewelry and expect to sell loads of it.
What you might find is that just thefact you sent that email and it looked
(09:14):
interesting, people clicked on it.
They may have gone to your website andbought something completely different.
This isn't always about selling veryspecifically something for that occasion.
It's about just being there present andrelevant at the time that your customers
are thinking about a certain event.
Think about your target audience.
Think about what would align with them.
This is when you can also start thinkingabout those smaller events as well.
(09:34):
So like the less saturated or more nicheevents, something like World Book Day or
International Coffee Day, for example.
Who knows?
Those could be things thatyou could consider as well.
There are always, if youGoogle "awareness days,"
you'll get a list of awareness days.
If you're inside the ResilientRetail Club, we have got our
monthly marketing planners.
They have awareness days on as well.
(09:55):
But it's worth just having a lookthrough and thinking about the
ones that would really resonate.
And really ultimately, it'sabout getting prepared.
In an ideal world, you'd be lookingtwo to three months ahead, at
least for your general outline.
So for example, at this pointnow, having a think about what
you'd want to do for Valentine's,Mother's Day, Easter, for example,
would be a really good place to be.
(10:17):
Now for some of you, especially ifyou're card brands who wholesale, I
know that sounds specific, butthere are a lot of you out there.
You may well have already created theseranges, because retailers often will be
in the January and February trade showsbuying for those particular events.
So you may have already got this allsorted, but for everybody else, that's
the kind of thing I think two to threemonths ahead is probably a really
(10:37):
good place for you to look at andthink about, you know, do you want to
create new products for these events?
Do you want to just think about maybeslightly amending existing products?
Like, what do you want to do?
But you need to give yourself time toactually think and plan this stuff out.
So now that you have selectedthe events that you want to focus
on, how do you actually go aboutcreating a campaign that has impact?
(11:00):
Well, first off, I would encourageyou to think about a theme.
Now, it doesn't have to besuper inventive and different.
It could just be, you know, Valentine'sgifts for you or Valentine's
gifts for your loved ones orValentine's gifts for your friends.
It could be something as simple as that,but do think about giving a campaign or
(11:21):
a series of marketing event activities.
Basically do think about givingit a particular unique identity,
just like you did at Christmas.
So you may well havehad Christmas Imagery.
You may have had Christmas graphics orChristmas color schemes that you use.
You can do exactly the samething for these festive events.
Now, it doesn't mean that you have togo out there and pay out for additional
(11:44):
imagery, which can be very expensive.
It could be that you maybe slightlyamend things that you've already
got, or you just select the thingsthat really fit with your theme.
So think about the colors, the language,the kind of imagery that all feeds
into that particular type of event.
And then think about creating a bitof an identity for that campaign.
(12:09):
So for example, summer can also beequally could be a seasonal campaign.
There's lots of things you could doaround sunshine savings or something
to do with, you know, getting outthere and enjoying the summer.
So if you were doing a summer campaign,you might choose very bright, colorful
colors and just give it an overall kindof identity that still fits within your
(12:34):
brand, but makes people really understandthat this is a coherent campaign.
So we're going to talk a littlebit more about touch points later
on, but consistency builds trust.
If your customer sees an email thatmatches a graphic on your homepage,
matches some of your social media graphicsor matches what's in your window, then
that does give them a feeling of trustand consistency that is really helpful.
(12:58):
And also because it's actuallyfrustrating if you're a customer, I
don't know if you've ever had thisexperience from a customer perspective.
But let's say somebody sends out anemail talking about their Valentine's
Day range, and then you go onto theirwebsite and you actually can't find
what they talked about in the email,then that can be frustrating in itself.
So do think about givingsomething a complete identity.
(13:19):
And just making it consistentacross touch points.
Now, we're not talking abouthaving to go out and create
bespoke graphics for everything.
If you really feel like actually, I reallydon't want to do something that isn't in
my brand colors or doesn't really work.
My branding doesn't really work like that.
Then you could just think aboutthe language or the look of what
the campaign is going to be aboutand creating a similar tone.
(13:42):
Or a similar language, vocabularythat will work for the whole
campaign across all touch points.
Even if visually then you'resticking with your main branding.
So that is the the first thing tothink about is creating a theme.
And this is the bitwhere I can get creative.
If you are somebody who reallyenjoys coming up with creative ideas.
Like think about what doesValentine's mean to you?
Or what does Mother's Day mean for you?
(14:03):
Do you want to talk about like acelebration of women and turn Mother's
Day into a whole celebration ofwomen who help us in different ways?
Even if they're mothers orwomen who support us and have
nurtured us in different ways?
And what could that mean?
Could you do series ofblog posts about it?
Or a social media post?
Or it's like getting people to celebrateor nominate people who've played
(14:26):
an important role in their lives.
There's all different kinds of thingsthat you can do, but it's good to
start with that idea of a theme.
And yeah have some fun with it.
The second thing is think aboutwhat you're then offering.
So this is the perfect timeyou can certainly think
about bundles is a good one.
So for example, people with gift giving,they often want to be able to just
(14:46):
select something and have it sent.
If you know people are selectinga Valentine's Day gift, you may
want to select various differentitems and put them together.
Now, maybe there's a slightdiscount for buying multiple items.
Maybe it's that there's no discount,but you put it in a gift box.
For example, there's lots of differentthings that you can do there, but do
think about theming some offers aroundthe time of year and that tie in.
(15:13):
So for example, if you're a candlebrand and it's Mother's Day, you
could have a special gift box thatis a candle for your mother and an
eye pillow or something like that.
Something that makes itreally nice and relaxing.
But thinking about, just likewe talked about the Christmas,
thinking about gifting, thinkingabout what could you pull together.
(15:34):
It's also a really, really fun wayof tying in things like limited
time offers or exclusive products.
So for example, you might collaborate,let's say, go back to the idea of
a candle brand, collaborating witha local artist to create a specific
range of Valentine's themed candles.
(15:56):
And it could be that the packaging isparticularly themed, but it's limited
edition and it's just, you know,small quantity or something like that.
So that's another way of creatingexcitement, but it's easier to do
that once you've got that theme.
So if you know what your theme is, giftsfor friends is going to be your theme,
Palantine's is going to be your theme.
Then that can really feed into whatproducts you want to pull together.
(16:19):
And you know, you definitelydon't have to create specific
products for each seasonal holiday.
But you can think about it if you wantto, if you want to add in those little
extras or those little additional sortof limited edition, it all helps add to
the buzz and helps add to the excitement.
You can, of course, do discountsif you want to some people
(16:40):
will do offers Valentine's Dayoffers or Mother's Day offers.
But actually I thinkthat doesn't sit as well.
I think that the discounting messagetypically works best for sort of clearance
whereas almost what the promotionis that you've got this great range
and you're going to solve all of theirgifting problems You're going to make
it all brilliant for them, and they'regoing to get loads of brownie points
(17:02):
from either their Valentine, theirPalantine, or their mother or father or
whoever it is that they're buying for.
That's kind of the hook, if you like you.
So I wouldn't really necessarilybe focused on using discounts here.
But as I said, maybe something like amulti buy, or a bundle where they get a
small discount for buying multiple things.
But really it's more about focusingon some really great product that
(17:24):
they absolutely want to have.
The other thing to do isbuilding anticipation.
So again, just like a Christmas gettingready to launch your Christmas range,
you can definitely as well as the timewhich you'll be promoting these products,
definitely think about a full launch.
So teasing your launch ahead oftime, you can do email previews, you
(17:45):
could do countdowns, you can do sneakpeeks on social media, and that's
all a really good way to create thatbuzz and create that excitement.
Definitely think about engaging yourcustomers, host polls, contests,
themed giveaways, that could allbe part of an overall campaign.
So for example, for Mother's Day, youcould have a whole campaign where you're
(18:05):
talking about nominate the importantwomen in your life or something like
that, and then one of them wins something.
That's a good way of creating a feelgood campaign, but equally showcasing
what you've got for Mother's Day.
And then really the key thingthat I want to highlight here is
just to stress the importance ofconsistency across your touch points.
(18:26):
This is why I like to have thingslike my launch planner that you
can get inside the membership.
Where you sit down andyou go through, right?
What am I saying on social media?
What am I saying in my emails?
What's on my home page?
Like everything just to match,to be consistent, whether it's
shop windows, whatever it is.
But making sure that everything issaying the same thing at the same time.
(18:46):
May seem like it's boring or not engaging,but actually it really helps again
grow that trust and really encouragesa clarity of message across all of
your various different touch points.
So once we've done this, once wehave created this campaign, how
can it help us on an ongoing basis?
Well, firstly, it's a great way to capturenew customers, to give them a new reason
(19:11):
to buy, even if they've followed youfor a while but they haven't purchased.
Then sometimes these seasonal eventscan be that kind of trigger point
that makes them think, "oh yes, I'vefollowed these people for a while,
but now I'd love to actually go aheadand buy from them because they've
presented me a great gift idea.
And I need that forthis particular season.
So make sure that yougather customer information.
(19:33):
If you are doing any kind ofpromotions, giveaways, then definitely
try and get email addresses.
That is by far the most usefulthing that you can collect.
And then also think about using thisas a springboard for repeat purchasing.
So an example I've used before is alocal florist who sends an email to my
(19:54):
husband every year ahead of Valentine'sDay, saying Valentine's Day is coming up.
You bought from us last year.
Can we help you this year?
And that's easy for him,easy for them and great me.
So it's a win, win, winsituation all round.
And I think that seasonal events arereally, really great way to really hook
into your customers, repeat purchasing.
(20:17):
And you could try the same thing, ifyou've got data of people you've bought
from you last year for Mother's Dayor Valentine's Day, you could send
them a simple email that just says,Hey, just wanted to check in and let
you know all about what we've gotthis year for our Mother's Day range,"
for example, and just make sure aswell that you gather testimonials.
(20:37):
And if you're getting any photos andyou use the generated content sent
in, this is a really great thing foryou to capture because it can really
make a great base for future years.
For example, if you had a reallygreat quote from somebody who said,
my dad was overjoyed with this.
He said it was the bestFather's Day gift he's ever had.
Then absolutely.
(20:59):
That's a great thing for you tothen use to build off for the
future for future events as well.
I just want to touch on aswell, actually, a quick one.
Because this is something that hadreally grew over the last few years,
is this idea of allowing your customersto opt out of seasonal campaigns.
It's something that we allneed to decide for a long time.
(21:20):
I thought it was a reallypositive development.
I was just kind of a side note, but Ithink it's worth mentioning it because
it's a question that comes up a lotis that, if you send an email out
to your customers that say, if youdon't want to hear about Mother's Day,
then click here and we will, and wewon't send you any more information.
We won't unsubscribe you,but we just won't send you
any Mother's Day information.
(21:41):
And for a long time that felt like itwas a really positive thing to do to be
able to, if you've got the capabilityand you know, several email types of
email software will let you sort of tagpeople if they click on something and then
exclude them from Mother's Day emails.
It is something that, for a long time,I felt was a positive because it was
about communicating with your customer.
(22:01):
I think this last year in 2024, it wasalmost a bit of a tipping point where
people were getting inundated with emailsasking them if they wanted to unsubscribe.
And it was almost making it worse.
Because if it wasn't a great time ofyear for you, then you then had all
these emails asking you to unsubscribe.
So I think it's something that you haveto just decide if you've always done it
(22:22):
and you get a good response from yourcustomers for doing it, then continue.
I don't think it's necessarily harmful.
But I think that before I thoughtit was definitely the way to go, to
let people opt out, but I feel likenow it's got a bit of bad press last
year for being a bit overwhelming.
So just think about that,whether or not you want to do it.
(22:43):
I mean, I think most people, ifthey are not in the market for
that particular event, they'llprobably just ignore the emails.
And there is always an argumentthat says with emails, even if
someone deletes your email, it'sstill a reminder that you exist.
So who knows?
Maybe that's okay.
People have very strongopinions about this.
If you feel very strongly that youshould offer people the opportunity
to opt out, then go for it.
(23:05):
But it's just an interestingone, a little bit nuanced.
What not to do then, whenit comes to seasonal events.
I think the key things really withseasonal events is don't rush it.
Don't leave it to the last minute.
Yes, you're not going to necessarilyget absolutely everything planned out.
But do spend some time thinkingabout the year coming up, and
what the seasonal events mightbe, and what you want to do for.
(23:26):
It will also help you withyour overall planning.
Because I often find that once we factorin various different seasonal events.
Then we start seeing where there are gaps,where people aren't launching products for
awhile, there aren't any seasonal events.
And then that's when you can startbrainstorming what some other
ideas might be for your marketing.
As opposed to this relentlessfeeling of waking up every day
(23:48):
or every week and thinking, whatam I going to talk about now?
Don't ignore your brand voice.
If you are very sarcastic anddry, then be sarcastic and dry
at Valentine's Day, Mother's Day.
It's okay.
You can do that because thepeople who are respond well to
your voice will respond to that.
If you're very practical, make itvery about very practical Valentine's
(24:10):
gifts and Mother's Day gifts.
Don't feel like you have to changeyour tone, the way that you talk
to your customer, just becauseit's a particular time of year.
I don't actually think you haveto spend a lot of money, or almost
any money, a lot of the time onthese seasonal marketing campaigns.
Just think about using theassets you've already got.
I think if you, especially if you'renot sure if this is an event or an
(24:33):
occasion that your customer really willrespond to, don't invest loads of money
on products that you can only sell atthat time and create those infamous
brown bananas, things that expire.
So for example, Be My Valentine.
It's very hard to shifton the 15th of February.
So for the most part, what we're talkingabout is not necessarily creating
new products or buying new productsin more about how do we curate and
(24:56):
market the ones that we've already got.
If you've got a really strong establishedseasonal pattern and you know that
Mother's Day is the absolute pinnacleof your selling, then there may be some
things that you want to do around thatand to consider some specific products.
But for most people it's going to be aboutusing the ones that they've already got.
And don't spread yourself too thin.
(25:19):
Don't pile too many messages on topof each other if, for example, Easter.
You know is just not really goingto be your thing then that's fine.
You could do some other kind of messaging.
You can also, I mean, seasonsthemselves are seasonal events.
Which sounds a silly thing tosay, but what I mean by that is,
you know, the turn of the season.
So spring in itself canbe a seasonal event.
(25:39):
Summer certainly is.
Autumn, almost like you can lookat the time of year and use that as
inspiration of what to talk about.
So really just think about what yourcustomer wants, what works for you as a
brand, and then space out your messagingso that you're not trying to talk about
too many things all at the same time.
Just to recap then.
Seasonal events, they're morethan just sales opportunities.
They are moments that youcan connect with customers.
(26:01):
You can create long term customers.
They are opportunities to be creative,flex your creative muscles and come up
with some ways of thinking about themand talking about them and have some fun.
Choose the ones that you think alignwith you, align with your customer.
Don't change your tone of voice forit, but think about how you can make it
work for you and, as I said, enjoy it.
(26:25):
Have a look at what's coming up.
Don't feel rushed.
Give yourself a bit of time and spaceand all of that together will mean
that you are maximizing yourselves,opportunities and having a bit of fun
with some creativity as well as gettingyourself ready for the year ahead.
So if you've enjoyed today'sepisode, I would love for you
(26:45):
to share it with a friend.
Do come over to Instagramat Resilient Retail Club.
Let me know what you thought of today'sepisode and let me know what seasonal
event you will be participating in.
If you have a moment to rate andreview the podcast on Apple podcasts,
that makes a huge difference togetting out in front of more people.
If you can rate it in Spotify, thenthat would be fantastic as well.
(27:06):
And of course, if you like, subscribe,follow, whatever it's called on the
platform that you're on, then you'll bethe first to know about every new episode
that comes out on the Thursday morning.
See you next week.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!