You made it through the long winter months. From Halloween to New Years, there’s a list of marketing agendas for businesses to work off of through the winter. Even Valentine’s Day has come and gone, leaving marketers questioning what their next move will be. As we navigate through the rest of the year, your marketing plan should be in place with relevant and engaging content pertaining to your business. How do you advance your marketing regime while remaining current on digital trends and engaging your customers? Here are tips from Red Shark Digital, a premier marketing agency in Raleigh NC, to retain your consumers after the holiday rush is over and increase customer engagement throughout the year.

Retaining Your Audience

After the holidays, you may notice a drop or increase in your conversions and impressions. This is dependent on what your clients’ business is and how it is influenced by the holidays throughout the winter. These shifts replicate your internet traffic returning to normal after the digital rush. Maintaining and striving to increase these levels present new opportunities for you to focus on retaining the audience you gained and experiment with your accounts through the upcoming year. Research your audience and take note of any prominent search trends in your target location. This could be the exact time of a year for a perfect match between their searches and your content. Utilize social media and paid advertising to continue engaging with people who are interested in your business.

What’s Next?

While many businesses notice this lul in digital traffic, there are a plethora of opportunities to expand your digital marketing plan throughout the year.  Mapping out the route for your business to take includes noting prospects for marketing campaigns in unlikely places. Strive to target holidays and events that will catch the attention of potential customers, driving brand traffic on slow weeks. Consumers no longer just wait for Black Friday to score deals, they take advantage of the sales that happen year-round. In the spring alone, there are plenty of opportunities for several businesses to take advantage of potential marketing campaigns. Here are a few of our favorite examples to keep customers engaged throughout the Spring months:

• March 6th - Employee Appreciation Day
• March 12th - Girl Scouts Day
• March 14th - National Pi Day
• March 17th - St. Patrick’s Day
• March 20th - Spring Equinox
• April 1st - April Fool’s Day
• April 7th - International World Health Day
• April 22nd - Earth Day
• May 4th - National Star Wars Day
• May 5th - Cinco De Mayo
• May 10th - Mother’s Day
• May 15th - National Pizza Party Day
• May 16th - National Barbeque Day

Pick occasions that align with your mission, brand, and target audience. The more brands can identify which holidays are driving the best conversions and revenue, the better they can equip themselves to serve their customer in the future.

Creative Content

Once your marketing path is mapped out, the execution of your plan should revolve around creative content. Valuing creativity makes a marked difference in content marketing success. Instead of an ad talking about your product, build a story around how your brand helped and changed the lives of customers. For example, use a holiday such as Employee Appreciation Day to highlight the value of your employees and the service they bring to your customers. As people around the world are embracing video, this leaves an opportunity for marketers to create content that keeps their audience engaged. The average internet user spends 88% more time on a website with video, a statistic marketers can’t ignore. Videos and other content should be based on understanding your audience, finding out who they are, and noticing what makes them acknowledge your brand.

Although the holiday season is over, the rest of the year contains major opportunities to build your brand awareness, drive conversions, and increase sales. Preparing your marketing campaigns now will give you the greatest results throughout the rest of the year. Create a game plan for campaigns and be mindful of certain dates and holiday promotions that may benefit your business. Most importantly, focus on what is meaningful to your brand and your customers. To continue advancing your marketing strategy and retain customers throughout the year, contact Red Shark Digital, a marketing agency in Raleigh NC.