The New England Winter Market : The Perfect Time To Plan

Promoting your business in the New England Winter Market is incredibly tough. Smaller markets require a more targeted, hands on approach. Let's face it - most areas in New England are sparsely populated either in the summer or the winter market, whereas if your business was in say, Los Angeles - your marketing strategy would need to be totally different. Businesses in New England require an approach built more around relationships, rather than simply persuading someone to consume your goods or services. Take my home of York, Maine, for example. In my town, the businesses that are able to stay open year around are beloved by locals. Two of my favorite local restaurants in the area - Robert's Maine Grill and (of course) Dante's Pizza Company are frequented by year rounders because they focus on connecting and providing amazing food in a genuine way rather than overtly trying to reel people in. To further discuss York though, many local businesses aren't like this, and it makes sense. Few industries have market share in the offseason, which means this time is a fantastic point to set a plan up for success in the future busy months. Most businesses rely heavily on tourism, and on seeing the same faces summer after summer. Summer in coastal New England towns is the pinnacle, and this is the case for New England mountain towns in the winter as well. The question becomes though, as we find ourselves in the winter months (and mountain town businesses, your time for this is the summer) what are you doing to plan your strategy for when it gets to be go-time in a few months? I have two tips for you below.

1. Think About How You Structure Your Customer Relationships

For some businesses, this could mean implementing reward systems. For example, to stick with the restaurant theme, the Smiths come every summer during the 2 weeks they stay in York - you can count on it. Implement a loyalty system so they can deepen their connection with your business. If they feel like you're acknowledging their loyalty, they'll stick with you forever. And - who knows - they might even make a few extra trips up during the winter to that restaurant near and dear to their hearts that they love so much.

Owners, this also means thinking about your relationships with your customers. Do you spend a lot of time at your business? Do you make a point of engaging with customers? Do you actively seek to learn more about people and establish genuine connections? Someone, if not you, has to be doing this both online and in person.

2. Shy Away From Mass, Generic Marketing and Emphasize Locality

I write a little bit about this in my Knowing Your Audience post, but being familiar with where you are and the people you serve has an incredibly beneficial influence on your local presence if you weave it into your marketing. Take York, for example - in the summer when people are attracted to the area because of the natural beauty, their family, a desire to vacation or some other reason, content has to be relevant to their specific experiences - not general trends or life in general. Put yourself in their shoes, and envision how you'd spend your vacation if you were them. Where would you go? What would interest you? What activities would you do? In my article about Social Media Marketing For Small Businesses, I offer a couple thoughts on what kind of content a small business could shoot if they need some ideas. Try it out, and I think every business will see some tangible results when thought process is structured in this way.