Seasons change, and so do people’s wants and needs, especially when it comes to their social calendars. As an experience platform, that’s something we’re pretty familiar with, and we think you may be, too. That’s why it’s important to understand and use seasonality to your advantage.
Seasonality is how the time of the year affects the demand for your experience. So, while you may see a fully-booked ice cream experience in the summer, people rarely want to feel even colder in the chilly months of the year!
Knowing and using seasonality can help you boost your marketing, increase your sales and stand out from the crowd.
Yuup’s marketing is all about seasonality. We match our promo activity with what people are looking for in each season. For example, we feature cosy, indoor and festive experiences during Christmas, and outdoor, family-friendly and festival experiences during summer. Experiences that fit the season are more likely to be featured in our marketing, which can help you get more visibility and bookings.
Today, we’ll share some tips and tricks on how to make the most of your experience bookings with seasonal strategies. We’ll cover these topics:
- Spotting seasonal trends
- Creating seasonal campaigns and experiences
- Using social media
- Offering seasonal promotions
- Planning for the whole year
Spotting seasonal trends
The first step to use seasonality is to spot the high and low seasons for what you offer. Depending on what kind of experience you offer, you may have different busy and quiet times.
To use an obvious example, a ski instructor may have lots of customers in winter, but a surfing instructor may have lots of customers in summer. However, some busy times are common for most experiences, because they are based on how people behave, what holidays they celebrate, and what events they attend.
Some examples of busy times you should keep in mind include:
New Year
Many people want to try new things and have new experiences to start the year with a bang.
Chinese New Year
A time for family gatherings, dancing, great food and traditional rituals.
Valentine’s Day
A popular time for couples to look for romantic experiences.
Easter
A time for family get-togethers, religious celebrations and spring activities.
Half Terms
School breaks that create opportunities for kid-friendly experiences and activities for families.
Summer Holidays
The peak time for travel, leisure and outdoor experiences (even if the UK weather doesn’t always agree).
Halloween
A spooky time for themed experiences, like haunted tours, pumpkin carving and costume parties.
Diwali
A time for religious celebrations and family get-togethers, often with lights, great feasts and giving.
Christmas
The festive time for gift-giving, cosy experiences and winter activities.
By spotting the seasonal trends that affect your experience, you can plan ahead and tweak your marketing accordingly.
Creating seasonal campaigns and experiences
Once you’ve spotted the seasonal trends that matter for your experience, you can create seasonal campaigns and experiences to attract and delight your customers. A few ways you can do that include:
- Tweaking your message and visuals to match the season. Use seasonal colours, pictures and slogans to capture the mood and vibe of the season. You can also highlight the benefits and features of your experience that are relevant for the season. If you offer a cooking class, you could mention the seasonal ingredients, recipes and dishes that you’ll use.
- Using seasonal themes and hashtags to boost your visibility and reach on social.
- Creating seasonal experiences to meet the seasonal demand and preferences of your customers. You can change your existing offerings to suit the season, like offering a winter version of your outdoor experience, or a festive version of your craft experience. Or, look at introducing limited-time experiences that are only available for a short period, like a New Year’s Eve party, an Easter egg hunt, or a Christmas market tour.
- Looking for a more collaborative idea? Team up with other hosts to create a seasonal experience that combines different elements, like a wine and cheese tasting, a yoga and meditation session or a pottery and painting workshop - this is something our team can assist you with.
Using social media
Social media is a great tool for leaning into seasonality, as it lets you connect with your customers, show off your seasonal offerings and generate word-of-mouth bookings. Not sure how to best utilise social media on a seasonal basis? Some of the easiest ways include:
- Joining in with trending topics and hashtags that are related to the season. Join the chat about New Year’s resolutions, Valentine’s Day plans or Halloween costumes, and share your tips and suggestions as well as recommendations to book your experience. You can also take part in seasonal challenges, contests and giveaways that are relevant for your experience.
- Showing off your seasonal offerings on social media by posting engaging content, like photos, videos, stories and reels. Share sneak peeks of your seasonal preparations, behind-the-scenes glimpses of your seasonal experiences or testimonials and reviews from your happy customers. You can also ask your customers to share their feedback and experiences on social media, and tag you (and Yuup!) in their posts.
- Creating a sense of urgency and excitement by using countdowns, teasers and reminders for your seasonal offerings. You could create a countdown for your limited-time offer, a teaser for your upcoming experience or a reminder for your last-minute availability. You can also use social media to announce any special deals, discounts or incentives that you’re offering for the season.
Offering seasonal promotions
Another way to make the most of your experience bookings with seasonal strategies is to offer seasonal promotions that can tempt your customers to book your experience. Some examples of seasonal promotions you can offer are:
- Limited-time offers and discounts that are only valid for a short time, like a week, a day or a few hours. You can offer a 20% off for your experience if customers book within the next 24 hours, or a 10% off for your experience if customers book before the end of the month.
- Using promotions to attract customers during quiet times, like off-peak hours, weekdays or low seasons. You could offer a buy-one-get-one-free deal for your experience if customers book during the morning or a free gift for your experience if customers book in January.
Here at Yuup, we have a feature that enables you to create your own funded promotions. Just get in touch with our team if you’d like to use this feature.
Planning for the whole year
The final tip to make the most of your experience bookings with seasonal strategies is to think about the whole year, and not just the busy seasons. Here’s what that looks like from a business perspective:
- Finding and using time in the quiet seasons for important tasks that are essential for your business growth and development, like product development, marketing research or training.
- Creating seasonal experiences that can help you diversify your income and reduce your reliance on the busy seasons. This could include creating experiences that are good for all seasons, like indoor experiences. You can also create experiences that are made for specific groups, like corporate events, birthday parties or hen dos.
- If you have a subscriber opt in on your website or through socials, sending targeted seasonal newsletters to your existing and potential customers, to keep them informed and interested in your experiences. Newsletters are great for highlighting seasonal offerings, sharing seasonal tips and stories or offering your seasonal deals and discounts.
Seasonality is a key factor that affects the demand and supply of experiences. By understanding and using seasonality, you can boost your marketing, increase your sales and stand out from the crowd. Make use of the changing seasons and their ebbs and flows to by utilising these tips, as well as the support we offer here at Yuup.
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