Here in Sydney, the air is getting icier by the day as winter approaches in the next few weeks. Seasonal changes or key dates and times in the year offer great opportunities to get creative and showcase new and exciting ways to excite your customers and clients. So, whether you’re scared of the wet weather or you’re looking forward to some winter warmers, take a look at our 4 ways you can make the most out of the seasonal changes coming up soon.
All about the aesthetics
Branding is a great way to excite your audience about the changing seasons. Everyone knows that a surefire way to grab people’s attention is with stellar aesthetics. While it’s important to remain consistent with your core business branding, some subtle changes when it comes time for a seasonal change, holiday, or special occasion can be a great way to show your business remains current with what is happening in your customers’ worlds. Some easy ways to shake up your aesthetics can be through a colour palette, using cooler tones for winter, for example. Graphics are another great way to do this, such as by adding seasonal images or symbols to your promotional advertising or implementing themes for seasons and holidays as you would for Christmas or New Year’s. Our design team at CLS are experts in all things branding and aesthetics and can help create some incredible graphics and colour palettes to help you make the most of the seasons. Contact us today to see how the design team can assist your business.
Updating your menu
If you ask us what’s the best thing about colder weather (not including pulling out our favourite cosy wardrobe pieces), we’d definitely say getting to have our favourite delicious winter warmer dishes come around again. One of the best parts of the seasons changing is bringing back delicious eats that match perfectly with the weather, atmosphere, and feel of your venue at the time. From bright and fresh cocktails in the summertime to hearty, warm pies and home-cooked deliciousness in the winter, Coming up to the start of a new season is the perfect time to discuss what changes you can make to your menu to not only excite new flavours but also offer something that will have all your loyal customers coming back for more too. A great way to get started with this is by offering new daily or weekly specials with a seasonal twist. Not only is this great for adding variety to your menu and allowing your kitchen team to get creative, but it can also prove cost-effective by using local, in-season ingredients that are abundant and produce greater freshness than imported goods. At CLS, we have years of experience working with various hospitality and food production businesses and can help you develop new menus for those changing seasons. From the initial menu development to brainstorming specials and promotions and creating aesthetic menu designs that can go straight to print, we can help every step of the way.
Excite with new promotions
What better way to excite your customers than with new promotions that’ll have them running in through the door? While any time is a good time for a new promotion, seasonal changes are an easy way to offer something new and exciting. Much like developing new menus, seasonal changes are a great time to introduce new promotions like Daily Specials that have a seasonal twist, such as introducing winter warmers. Similarly, beverages are a great way to continue building your seasonal branding by offering drink specials that suit, such as summer cocktails or warmer drinks like something spicy in the winter. Seasonal promotions are also great for assisting stock turnover at your business. Whether it’s getting rid of last season’s products or building a campaign for next season’s offerings, planning ahead will help ensure you’re making the most of these changes. This might include distributing promo codes for your online store to clear out old stock, such as “LASTOFSUMMER” or “40% off Summer Sale”, or setting up email automation to get your customers excited about what’s coming next, such as a “$$$ off Winter Pre-Sale” promotion before the next season has even begun! New and exciting promotions are a great way to get ahead of the changing seasons and ensure your customers will be there for all your new offers once they’re live.
Tailor your events
New events or changes to your existing ones can be a great way to bring in new customers for special holidays, seasons, or occasions. Through customer feedback and surveying, you can determine what events are being well received by your current customers and make changes to implement the best parts of these into new events this season. For example, if trivia draws a crowd at your venue, consider speciality themed nights to encourage your customers in and show them all you have to offer for the season. This might look like a winter-themed trivia night with some winter-warmer specials on your menu or a Summer Hits Karaoke night paired with a refreshing drink offer. If you’re needing something fresh and exciting all together, consider coming up with some new event ideas to implement this season that can help engage new and existing customers and clients too. Launching a new product? Showcasing recent achievements? Or maybe you just want to celebrate your business? Think of what you want your customers to get out of an event and see how you can implement this now to make the most of the upcoming seasonal changes ahead.
Although they come around much the same every year, seasonal changes are a great way to excite your customers and show that your business is offering new and exciting creative elements. By mapping out what you’d like to achieve in the upcoming season, you can start to determine how to make the most of the season through design elements and changes to your menus or product line, and encourage new and existing clients to try out your new promotions and attend speciality events.
Need help with anything in this blog, then book a one-on-one call with Chrissy to help ignite your winter ideas, follow this link here and book that important call now