Plan a seasonal campaign by working backwards from the date customers act, not forwards from the date you feel ready. Fix the peak, subtract the time needed for approvals, production, ad review and warm-up, and you have your real start date. Most seasonal campaigns that miss their moment started too late, not too small.
Build a seasonal calendar
Start with a twelve-month view and mark three kinds of date:
- Fixed dates that the whole market observes, such as Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and the end of the financial year on 30 June.
- Local dates such as school terms and holidays, which vary by state, local events and weather patterns.
- Your own dates: product launches, annual sales, stock deadlines and quiet periods.
Add what each moment means for your customers. A florist, a tax accountant and a landscaper will all have peaks, but at different times and for different reasons. For wider planning, see digital marketing strategy and content calendar planning.
Australian seasons
Australia’s seasons are the reverse of the northern hemisphere’s: summer runs through December to February, and winter through June to August, in the common meteorological convention. This matters for any content or supplier shared with overseas teams. A “winter sale” brief written in London lands in the wrong months for a Brisbane audience, and imagery of snow or autumn leaves can feel out of place at Christmas. Climate also varies across the country, so a single “summer” message may not suit tropical Queensland and alpine Victoria equally.
Work backwards from the peak
Use a countdown template. The durations are illustrative; adjust to your business and approval process.
| Stage | Question to settle | Typical dependency |
|---|---|---|
| Peak date | When do customers buy or book? | Last year’s records, your own data |
| Go-live | When must ads and pages be live? | Ad review and warm-up |
| Assets ready | When is creative approved and uploaded? | Production and approvals |
| Production | When must briefs and shoots be done? | Supplier and talent availability |
| Brief and offer | When is the offer, price and stock confirmed? | Commercial sign-off |
| Planning | When does this plan start? | Everything above |
Most delays come from approvals and supplier calendars, not from the creative work. Build slack in before the peak, and plan what you will do if a stage slips.
Prepare content in layers
Plan a campaign as a set of linked assets, not one post:
- Core pages: a campaign landing page and any product or booking pages, ready before ads go live. See landing pages that convert campaign traffic.
- Evergreen assets reused each year: templates, photography, copy blocks. Update these early, and date-check everything.
- Time-limited assets: countdowns, offers and reminders.
- Follow-up: thank-you messages, post-season surveys and a wrap-up report.
Reuse and adapt: repurposing one campaign into multiple assets can cut workload.
Paid media and bidding
Paid platforms need set-up and learning time. Google’s seasonality adjustments help page says these adjustments tell Smart Bidding about expected conversion rate changes from short events such as promotions or sales. Google advises using them only when you expect a major shift in conversion rates, because Smart Bidding already accounts for many seasonal patterns. They suit short events of about one to seven days, and may be less effective beyond roughly fourteen days. Search, Shopping, Demand Gen and Display campaigns using Target ROAS or Target CPA are supported, and campaigns return to normal when the event ends. Check the page for current rules before relying on it. For budgeting across the year, see marketing budget allocation and Google Ads budget and bidding.
Update your local listings
Seasonal changes also affect your Google Business Profile. Google’s Business Profile guidelines advise using regular customer-facing hours, special hours for holidays or events, and marking the business temporarily closed during an off-season. Update these early so holiday opening hours are right before customers look for them. Keep the same hours on your website and social profiles.
Check your claims
Seasonal offers invite pressure language. Make sure any “limited time” or “while stocks last” claim is true, and that sale pricing is genuine. Advertising law basics in Australia covers misleading claims at a general level.
After the season
Within a few weeks of the peak, compare results with the plan, record what worked, and file the assets and timeline for next year. Seasonal planning gets easier when each year starts from last year’s notes. Do not treat one year’s result as a benchmark without noting what else changed: weather, prices and competitor activity all move results.
Where Radiance Impact fits
Radiance Impact’s Growth & Marketing division supports campaign planning, social and search visibility, and its Studio produces short-form video and creative assets. See /growth or get in touch via /contact.
Sources
- About seasonality adjustments, Google Ads Help
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help
