When most people think of weather, they think of the conditions outside. However, the weather is also what has a significant impact on business operations. Sales of ice cream and cold drinks spike during hot summer months, for example, while clothing sales tend to increase when there’s a cold snap. But what about online marketing? Can the weather affect how people interact with your website or social media pages? And if so, what can you do about it? In this blog post, we’ll take a look at how weather can affect your online marketing efforts and how you can address weather changes in your campaigns. Stay warm!
Weather fluctuations greatly affect the variety of industries, including those in the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, fashion, travel and leisure, home and garden, energy, and automobile sectors. The impact of weather on online marketing is significant too. Simple example: if it’s raining, people are more likely to stay indoors and browse the internet for products and services. Conversely, if the sun is shining, people are more likely to go outside and engage in activities that do not involve sitting in front of a computer screen. However, the broader picture is more complex in this regard, and when accounting for weather changes in your marketing campaign, you need to consider other factors as well.
Firstly, marketers should consider the fact that different regions of the world experience different weather patterns. For example, if you’re running a promotional campaign targeted at consumers in the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll need to take into account the fact that the weather is getting colder, and days are shorter, so people tend to spend less time outdoors. So, businesses should focus their marketing efforts on products and activities that can be done indoors. Similarly, if you’re targeting consumers in the hot weather regions, you’ll need to keep in mind that summer months are great for selling refreshing drinks, cooling desserts, and all sorts of outdoor products: from BBQ’s and garden furniture to sunglasses. However, regarding other products, favorable weather might cause considerable revenue losses for companies that operate solely online if they do not prepare in advance. Hence, digital marketers should leverage weather targeting to contextualize marketing messages. By automating PPC campaign bids before periods of opportune weather, businesses are ensuring that they maximize the potential for sales during these times by advertising relevant deals or promotions beforehand. When adjusting marketing strategies according to the weather conditions, it’s also important to remember that during hot summer days, bright colors in advertisements work better than during rainy or snowy days, when businesses should use comforting images and messages in their ads.
Marketers may take advantage of these weather-driven patterns of demand and customer behavior by using real-time weather data. This is a great technique for companies to validate communications and guarantee that their messages are pertinent, current, and hyper-contextual. As a result, businesses that can capitalize on the impact of the weather on consumer behavior reap additional financial rewards. Another important point is that businesses that successfully market online in relation to the specific weather can build a sense of trust and credibility with their target audience.
There are many case studies which prove the effectiveness of weather-triggered advertising. Below, we’re presenting to you three case studies that show that effective online marketing in relation to weather patterns can lead to elevated ad performance and increased revenue growth.
1. In the summer of 2018, ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s launched a new flavor called “Weather Top”. The flavor was only available for a limited time and was only sold during hot weather conditions. To market the new flavor, Ben & Jerry’s relied heavily on social media and used bright colors and happy images in their advertisements. The marketing campaign was a success, with the new flavor becoming one of the best-selling flavors of the summer.
2. Molson Coors, a multinational drink and brewing company, launched a campaign that provided customized adverts to Facebook mobile users by specified local weather conditions. One set of ad units had weather-specific content, whereas the other set used generic content. Thermal and cloud-cover triggers turned on the advertisements in real-time (above 23 degrees and sunny). As a result, within several engagement areas, the weather-specific ads outperformed the generic ones, and higher engagement was achieved by the ads based on the “hot weather circumstances”. Besides, the weather specific advertising CPC rates were 67% lower than those from the generic ones.
3. The last case study is from our client, the gym company. Their campaign has been running for 2 month now in an A/B test against the campaign without weather data. The campaign is still active, but the first results show that the weather-based campaign has higher impressions and lower average CPC for most keywords. Besides, all conversions are done by the weather-based campaign. We’ll update this campaign and present more detailed information in a separate case study.
So now, we’ve seen how understanding of the weather changes impacts consumer behavior and can help you fine-tune your digital marketing campaigns. Are you curious about what this means for your specific business? Contact us and let our experts take a look at your data. We can provide tailored tips on how to make the most of weather conditions in order to increase traffic and conversions for your website.