How to jumpstart spring sales.

Ah, spring is on the way. Flowers will bloom, the sun will shine, the birds will chirp and the bees will buzz. Spring isn’t just a new season for nature, however, it’s also a great opportunity to shake off some of that seasonal rust and jumpstart your business with spring sales ideas.

We’ve assembled this handy guide to give you some spring inspiration on how you can get things going for your business, whether you’re a restaurant or a retail environment.

Consider the season.

Your first step should be to brainstorm what spring means. What associations do you make when you think of spring? Do you think of sunflowers? What about fresh fruit, or Easter? Do you clean out your home and have a garage sale in the spring?

If you have these thoughts, it’s likely that another person – like your customer – is having similar thoughts. Use these ideas to get a grasp of how you can use spring and when you can use spring to help your business.

For example, spring is often associated with ideas like revival, spring cleaning, spring flings, Mother’s Day, Easter and March Madness. All of these are either events that take place within the spring timeframe or are common associations with the season.

Spring sales campaign ideas.

How can your business take advantage of spring? Well, it depends on what kind of business you’re running. Once you’ve brainstormed all associations you make with the season, you can then narrow things down based on your needs.

If you search for spring sales on a search engine, there are two major sales terms you’re going to see consistently: spring fling and spring cleaning. As you create your spring sales event, you’re going to want to start by naming it.

One of these terms, whether it be spring fling or spring cleaning, is going to suit your business better than the other. Let’s take a quick look at some examples to help illustrate which one is better for you.

Cleaning company Bissell uses the term Spring Cleaning, which naturally ties into its brand and what it sells. It sells cleaning products, a lot of people clean their home in the spring. It’s a perfect marriage. Meanwhile, PC video game distributor Steam goes another way.

Steam sells digital copies of games you can download directly to your PC or Mac. It has opted for the Spring Cleaning term for its spring sale, including copy that harkens back to when PC gamers bought physical copies of games. They tell users to “dust off their library” by purchasing new games to add to their collection.

While spring cleaning doesn’t have a direct reference to digital video games, it does take a savvy take on the term and make it fun at the same time. If you have a retail store that wants to get rid of some old winter items, then using the term spring cleaning makes sense. You’re essentially promoting an “out with the old, in with the new” idea, but applying it to your sales.

As for spring fling, retailers like The Lakeside Collection have used the term for its sale event, showcasing products suited for the season. Think about the term “fling”, which typically is associated with words like fleeting.

If you want to focus on new products that are suited for the season, spring fling might be a good option for you. Additionally, if you have a restaurant or a bar and have new menu items suited for the spring, like cooler drinks or refreshing food, it might be a good option for you.

Finally, you can build your sales event around specific holidays in spring. A great example is Mother’s Day. For example, Godiva has begun a Mother’s Day promotion, pointing to its chocolate sets as great gifts for mothers.

If you have a business like a spa or a flower shop, Mother’s Day is a great opportunity to promote your services. In that case, using a Mother’s Day sale event might be a better option than a more general “Spring Fling” or “Spring Cleaning” phrase.

Plan your promotion.

Once you’ve come up with your campaign ideas, it’s time to plan your promotion. That all comes down to asking yourself some questions. How long will your sales event last? How many items will you sell? Will you instead offer one or two promotions, like buy one get one free? Once that’s all settled, it’s time for the final step.

Run the sale.

Now that your ideas are squared away and your promotion is planned, it’s time to let people know. There are two simple ways to start: If you have your customers’ email and physical addresses, you can simply send them an email or a postcard to inform them of your promotion.

The second step is social media. You can use different forms of social media to get out your message depending on what kind of customers you have and where they are.