Welcome to fall. The Autumnal Equinox will occur tonight at 9:03 p.m. and usher in the new season. That’s when the sun will cross the so-called celestial equator – an imaginary line that extends from earth’s equator out into space. Once that happens, the nighttime hours of darkness will grow as the daytime hours of sunlight will decrease until the winter solstice.

Changing seasons impact all of us. We are in a seasonal cycle and the change puts us in a different mood. This mood change causes us to look differently at some items we might ignore at other times of the year. For instance, we are likely to start craving pumpkin spice and apple cider after today, but not so much in the spring or summer months. Why? Because we are creatures that are easily influenced when our surroundings begin to change. This change is a marketing opportunity. A good marketing plan anticipates the right time to approach consumers when they are ready to buy. The mood of consumers is changing and, if you can time your marketing to coincide with this change, they will be more accepting of whatever you are selling.

One of the tasks of marketing is to keep your messaging fresh. A new season gives you a great opportunity to do so. There comes a point in every marketing campaign when your target market has heard you and begins to ignore your messaging. Keep an eye on the impact of your marketing and measure its effectiveness. It is time for a change when your campaign cannot hold your customers’ attention any longer. Just when you are at your peak marketing performance, you need to change your campaign. The fall season gives you a great opportunity to take another angle with your marketing so that your customers look at you again. Beyond awareness of your brand, what are you doing to get them to try your products and services? Seasonal changes give you a natural time when people are willing to try something new. Use this time to market to them.

You may not be promoting the sales of nutmeg and chrysanthemums. You might be tempted to think that the fall season has nothing to do with your brand, so why try a new message? I would encourage you to rethink that attitude. Regardless of what you are promoting, there is still an opportunity for selling in the fall. We are all making a change to our surroundings. We change our clothing to reflect the new season. We start to eat less cold food and start eating hearty and hot foods. We do this without much thought. It seems rather natural that we would do so. If you can work your marketing to shift to a new campaign during these natural times of change, you will find an acceptance that you might not have at other times of the year.