Author: Steffen Meyer, Mobile Marketing Content Specialist
When Halloween comes closer, pumpkins not only show up on verandas but on logos in the app stores as well. And not only that: Witches on broomsticks fly in preview videos and you get offered one Halloween special after another.
This phenomenon is called seasonality, and the reason for so many brands to employ this marketing strategy, is the same as always: it works.
Holidays like Halloween can evoke special feelings in people like joy, nostalgia or excitement and marketers can tap into these emotions to increase conversions. If you want to get the most of your brand, you should employ seasonal marketing as well. In this blogpost we tell you what you need to do.
How to use seasonal marketing for your app
- Set-up a calendar
A calendar helps to plan ahead and to remind you how many days you have left for preparing. Christmas is on the same day every year, so you shouldn’t be surprised when it’s finally there.
However, it is wise not to just look at the mainstream events: Research for special days that connect with your brand and scan for national or local dates that you can use for a campaign.
- Research Keywords and your competitors
Seasonal events most likely repeat every year, so you have a bunch of historic data to look at. Find out what people search for with tools like Google Trends, and analyze the content of your competitors on these occasions. Get more inspiration by looking at successful campaigns within or outside your market.
- Optimize metadata early
Algorithmic crawlers take a while to index your new metadata. So you should start implementing it a few weeks or even months before the season arrives to make sure they fetch your new data. When you just add keywords like “Halloween” on the very day, you are too late.
- Use the whole ASO toolkit
When you’re done with this groundwork, get creative: Design a logo that connects with the season, create new screenshots and video previews, adjust your copy and think of fitting emojis, too.
Another great way to boost conversion rates, to engage with existing users or even get lapsed users back, are In-App events: They allow you to promote certain time-bound events for your app, like a holiday special. Time-limits evoke a “fear of missing out” and get users interested in your app.
Consider sending out messages to make sure your prospects and customers have heard about your seasonal marketing efforts. Here are a few possibilities which channels you can use.
- Launch Ad Campaigns
If you’ve prepared everything, you can run digital ads to make more people aware of your seasonal special. Look at Meta’s Ad Library or the Google’s Ads Transparency Center (see our blogpost on this as well) in the time period during recent years to get inspiration and to analyze your competitors.
Seasonal marketing isn’t a one-time investment
Even though we kept this blogpost short, this is not to say that a seasonal campaign is set-up quickly. It requires thoughtful planning, since you don’t want to mess up your brand’s narrative or appearance by just adding a few pumpkins to your ASO mix. Users will see right through this minimal effort and end up disappointed – and you don’t want your brand to be connected with this feeling. Especially on holidays.
Instead, think of how you can add value to your app, even if this means investing a bit more time and money. Just remind yourself (or your CEO) that you can repeat and tweak this campaign every year. So it’s not a one-time investment but actually a sustainable strategy.
Learn more on how to launch successful campaigns for your app by getting our Marketing Master Map for free.
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