Seasonality Countdown - Are You Ready for Launch?

by Skip Cohen

​If only there were a button on your keyboard for "seasonality" - you could just hit it and have everything in place. Unfortunately, there isn't one on your keyboard, but there is a seasonality button in your head and heart. We're down to the wire, but there's still a chance for some unique and eye-catching creativity in the days ahead.

It's Marketing Monday, and I'm just going to hit on ideas for Mother's Day because it's the big one up next!  The pandemic left us with a powerful renewed sense of family. But, as I've written before, what Grandma has missed most is her family. That leaves a list of opportunities for you to fill a gaping hole in capturing memory-making.

• Planting Seeds: Whether through your blog, social media, or direct mail, now is the time to remind Mom that it's time for a new family portrait. You have to be the one to plant the seed of the idea, and it's perfect for blog content. You don't have to wait for Throwback Thursday to share some old family portraits and get your audience thinking about the need for something new.
• Partnerships: Whether direct mail or cross-promotional, look for a couple of partners in your community to get the word out. For example, working together with a florist and a restaurant known for its Mother's Day brunch are perfect partners for an email blast or direct mail campaign. Plus, by working together, you're expanding your reach, and if direct mail, saving costs. Best of all, each partner becomes an ambassador for the other two.
• Cross-promoting with a Venue: Pick the best restaurant in the area popular for Mother's Day. Sit down with the restaurant and develop a way to offer a unique gift certificate for each other's products. You don't need to discount but create add-on value with each of your services.
• Legacy Programs: Whether it's doing a multi-generational family portrait or offering video support to help older family members share their stories - once again, it's the renewed sense of family playing a role. I'm a huge fan and believer that every portrait photographer should be offering recording time to senior family members. I look at my own short-sights - for example, I'd give just about anything to have recorded my Dad's stories from his childhood to how he met my mother, etc. - before he passed away.
• Mother's Day Special: This is the easiest of all to do, but you still have to get the word out. Call your lab and ask one simple question, "What's new?" Whether a new style album, canvas, or unique material for printing - find something to offer on your website. Put it in a bundle so the package has value without you eroding your pricing structure. And remember, while we're tired of something as simple as a canvas print, but it might be new for many of your clients.
• Outdoor Prints: I'm a huge fan of BayPhoto's Performance EXT metal prints, and I have three of them hanging outside by our pool. (Remember, I live in Florida, and there are thousands of homes with pools, and all of them are in the sun and rain all year long.) My prints have been outside in the sun and show no change in their quality. Performance EXT Metal won't hold up forever, but offering people something new with a fine art type print or family portrait on their porch or patio is definitely a show-stopper.

Here's the bottom line to today's post - there's still time for you to put a great Mother's Day promotion in play, but this is a you-snooze-you-lose scenario. You've got to step up and let your target audience know what you're doing because, unlike the illustration above - there is no seasonality button just to push!