There comes a point in the year where all thoughts turn to Christmas and the ensuing festive season. For the tourism industry, the festive season (and seasonality more generally) has a myriad of effects on footfall and turnover. While people flock to Christmas markets and city centres, venues like museums and galleries might see a drop off in visitors.
Seasonality, by definition, is a series of behavioural patterns and cycles that appear each year, that can be tied to things like weather, events, and festivities. Christmas is a firm example of this, as consumers seek out themed events, trips to Christmas markets, prioritise cities and shopping centres for the all-important Christmas shop – this influences the tourism industry as a whole.
Whether the infamous Christmas seasonality is generally good or bad for your business, the great news is that there are lots of things you can do to monopolise on it. Not only are there ways to make the most of the festive season and drive custom, but also extend that season to benefit your business. Here are just a few of the ways you can market yourself effectively and drive footfall throughout the year.
Collaborate with other businesses
Visitors and consumers are arguably more demanding than ever, nowadays! If you’re operating within the tourism industry, your target audiences are likely to want it all: entertainment, experience, food, drink, accompanied by great facilities and good transport links. Not a big ask, right?
A great way to entice custom is to collaborate with other businesses who might complement your offering, to create seamless, convenient (and perhaps even cost-effective) packages. Could be as simple as a discounted meal at a nearby restaurant, discounted travel from a partner venue, or even a partnership with nearby accommodation providers. If you find this works for you, go one step further and design more packages tailored to your target demographics, be it families, young couples or professionals.
When looking to collaborate – also remember to connect with your local and national destination marketing organisations, or for those based in Scotland – VisitScotland. VisitScotland runs a number of initiatives that not only drives global footfall to Scotland and its cities and towns, but also engages businesses across the country to make Scotland an ideal destination for both domestic and international tourism.
A great example of this, is VisitScotland’s Great Days out in Scotland campaign. The campaign runs from October to March, with the aim of driving tourism across Scotland during the colder autumn and winter months. There’s a toolkit available for businesses, as well as the opportunity to have your business listed on the campaign’s page, on the VisitScotland website.
Create seasonal offers and promotions
Creating seasonal offers and promotions, tailored to the circumstances of the season, can be a great way to drive footfall – particularly in low season. If you’re a restaurant it might be alfresco set menus on summer weeknights, or winter warmer accommodation deals if you’re a hotel looking to bag festive custom over Christmas. Regardless of what you come up with, an offer that’s tailored to what your customers are looking for can go a long way to driving up numbers. Don’t forget to try and test different offerings too – experiment to find what resonates most with your customers and guests!
Engage with existing customers
We spend such a lot of time gathering our customers’ data. Email addresses, birthdays, interests; however detailed the information you keep, quiet periods are a great time to put this data to good use.
You might want to pull local people from your data, and market to your local community with an offer or set of key messages – after all, they’re nearby and it’s not a big ask for them to visit. Local and visitor economies are closely linked – we know this – so tailoring your offer to them or offering incentives like a free coffee or discounted entry price could be a way to boost that footfall and keep your neighbours happy!
Create new experiences
A great way to monopolise on seasonality, creating tailored experiences is a great way to make the most of those key periods.
The first consideration is to assess your key demographics, by key period. For example, during school holidays, family groups may increase due to schools being closed, so events tailored to keeping little ones happy might just be the key to driving that footfall.
Secondly, key themes amongst consumer desires should be considered. For example, at Christmas people might be looking for events and experiences that make them feel festive, it could be through live music, grottos, festive fayre – the experience you offer should be topical enough to satisfy what your consumers are looking for.
Experiences don’t need to be complex, or costly, but they are a great way to create a connection and form a lasting memory with your visitor. Not only are they great to promote your business, but they will likely have a lasting effect that will benefit you for years to come.
Leverage seasonal tourism events in your area
If hosting your own seasonal experiences isn’t viable (and for many businesses, it isn’t) why not try leveraging other tourism events in your area?
Maybe there are ways for you to get involved in an event, through sponsorship, hiring a stall, or providing some samples? Or perhaps you could create a complementary deal, for example, offering a reduced accommodation rate for those who are attending.
Similarly, you can leverage these events in small ways, like promoting it across your marketing channels, as a valuable knowledge share. And don’t forget to include the relevant hashtag on social – event hashtags quite often trend and reach lots of people, so it’s a great way for new audiences to see your content and be exposed to your brand!
Test and try ‘low season’ strategies
If you know of an upcoming low season, shake up your thinking and see it as an opportunity to try something new.
With increased capacity across your team, why not test a new marketing strategy, be bold, daring, and note the results of your efforts. If your low season happens to be at a time when other businesses within the tourism sector are busy (like Christmas), why not start investing in content?
If you know there’s an influx of visitors due, optimise your website to answer questions that these visitors are likely to search. Pull together lists of great places to eat, drink, and be entertained in your area – show your expert knowledge and raise awareness of your brand through tactical content and SEO. The great thing about it is – once you’ve done it, the results can last for a long time, reaping you the benefits in other low-seasons to come!
If you’d like to discuss the variety of ways to drive footfall to your business across the year – we’d LOVE to help. We have heaps of experience in both the tourism sector and with season marketing campaigns… let’s chat!
