Achieve Incremental Growth Using Seasonal Content
Holidays & Seasonal Events in India
While evergreen content is not based on any moment or event, seasonal content is time-bound. Seasonal content provides greater thrust to marketing momentum if correctly produced and distributed on the right platforms. For instance, social media traffic spikes by 70% during the peak seasons especially during extended festivals like the Ganesh Chaturthi, Nav Durge, Diwali, Christmas Holidays, and New Year’s Eve. The focus should not be only on social media, festivals are the best time for email marketing and sending newsletters to the target audience. These activities should be well planned and rightly worded for the occasions since the messages on special occasions are readily accepted and absorbed. While Diwali and Holi in the country are celebrated with extreme religious fervor, holidays based on Western traditions are making inroads as well. Holiday seasons based on Western traditions may not have any religious significance for the common man in the country, nevertheless, the global impact sets the mood right. Festive seasons are most extended in the country during the end of the monsoon when crops are being shown to restock the granaries in time to come. There are many short-lived festivities in the country being celebrated in different regions and marketers should keep track of them and exploit the celebrity mood to the best.
Making Most of the Special Occasions
In India, holidays abound. The country celebrates auspicious events based on myths and religion the most. These are the moments that are full of buzz, people are emotionally charged and in a happy state of mind, and their responsive best. For marketers, these are opportune moments, it is likely that a large chunk of the target audience is off work and hooked to social media. These are major shopping days, and your target audience is most likely to indulge in a shopping spree. Besides planning vacations, people are seeking the best deals, planning holiday outings, and conversing with their friends and family members. For content marketers and business owners, these are the best time for offers, promotions, major deals, and schemes.
While most of the team members are occupied by making the best of the off-work days those with diligence, sincerity, and commitment have already done their homework. Grabbing an opportune moment requires advanced planning and execution. By the time a holiday or harvest time approaches the content calendar is full to the brim ready to fire on D-Day.
Before the arrival of D’Day content creators should have planned all the topics that go hand in hand with the occasion. In India, the most cherished time for those with traditional leanings are the auspicious seasonal events like the beginning of harvest time. Even the seasonal occasions in the country are colored with religious rites and rituals.
Remember on most special days the impetus is more likely on sales and purchases and less on service. This is the right time to join the bandwagon and promote your products and brands with equal fervor. Unfortunately, in traditional India, brands servicing alcohol and meat may not draw an appreciable crowd and promotion will carry a negative impact. Hence the marketing strategy for special occasions calls for a lot of discretion and while there is a mad rush at the malls some products may not face the wind. But for Holi and Xmas, this does not stand true and as it is a time to get high. The best approach is to lean on data and analyze search impact using keyword tools like Semrush, Ahref, or Wordstream. For sales comparisons, keyword performance, and spikes use Google Trends.
Conversions & Competition
Conversions are more likely to take place when the target audience is emotionally charged and you can exploit the moments with well-planned and relevant content. For example, everything sells during and after harvest time not only products connected with agrarian practices. But these are times when your competitors are busy planning their offensive strategies and your performance should stand out from the crowd and win.
Content creators should create videos, articles, short posts, and blogs with a lot of visuals to add to the factual story or myth related to the festive occasion. Their content pieces should resonate with traditions that surface for the target audience to appreciate and accept the accompanying message. Visual contenting is most impactful during festive times and it should be it’s colorful and best, accompanied by the right message.
