Christmas is supposed to be the season of goodwill, but for some of the titans of commerce it was anything but.

Debenhams surprised everyone in January with a profit warning, prompting a 20% plunge in shares after poor Christmas sales. And things were even worse at John Lewis where the annual staff bonus was suspended in January for the first time since 1953 following a bad festive period for the retailer.

This is rather alarming if you’re a business owner, because if two of the biggest names on the high street can’t seemingly put together a bumper Christmas strategy, what hope do the rest of us have?

The good news is that anyone - big business, freelancer or pre-start entrepreneur - can still jump on seasonal bandwagons. You just need to get smart.

So, what is seasonal marketing?

A good question, because seasonal marketing isn’t just about dressing up your logo in a Santa hat or providing a free Easter egg with every purchase. It’s about adjusting your marketing output to coincide with public events and holidays.

This means you need to keep a keen eye on the calendar, ‘national days’ (“it’s eat a pie day” - you know the drill) and identify opportunities where you can capitalise on an increased national interested in something.

Seasonal marketing enables you to drive more interest to your product or service by doing the age-old promotional trick of jumping on a packed bandwagon. It doesn’t guarantee success (as Debenhams and John Lewis demonstrated), but it will put your brand in the spotlight when it may otherwise have been hidden in the shadows.

Will seasonal marketing work for everyone?

You might be wondering if seasonal marketing will work for your business - particularly if you’re a manufacturer of ball bearings.

The answer is yes - seasonal marketing is a great fit for any B2B business and particularly brilliant for ecommerce operations.

National holidays, for instance, are perfect excuses for people to spend more money on themselves, whereas a well-timed free delivery Christmas campaign will be just as well received by a business wanting its latest shipment of parts as someone waiting on a present for a loved one.

Avoid the cheese and do your research

No, I have not suddenly gone vegan….I am of course referring to the marketing cheese.

We see it every season and every event…’let’s Spring into action…’ ‘we have a Eggcellent offer for you’……

A lot of it comes down to search when it comes to thinking about opportunities for your market and how to communicate it.

Web traffic is highly seasonal, and this can be identified when you use tools like Google Trends.

This is great news for marketers, because if you know what to look for, you can quickly spot seasonal marketing opportunities. Each year, there will be predictable upward and downward trends for specific search terms, and that provides us with a brilliant insight as to when we should start planning campaigns.

People interact with Google differently as the year progresses, and depending on the type of national event, you can normally count on a high number of search queries that ramp up smoothly, giving you time to do the same with your seasonal marketing strategy and output.

Start with keyword research

If you’re new to seasonal marketing, I’d suggest cutting your teeth with some keyword research. You can do this in Google Ads’ Keyword Planner (anyone can create a free account).

We’re all aware of the ‘big dates’ such as Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s Day, but if you spend some time looking at other national days and impending, big sporting events, you can delve into a really productive form of keyword research.  Also don’t forget using the seasons to your marketing advantage.

By using Google’s tool, you’ll start to identify search terms that aren’t too competitive but which could drive highly relevant traffic your way during big seasonal events. And, with those keywords in hand, you can start planning those seasonal marketing campaigns!