Fall Means Back to… Prospecting! Businesses That Are Hot for Q4
Summer is flying by, which means – believe it or not – that it is time to start outreach to business prospects for the fall. Do you know which businesses are “hot” for Q4? The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) tracks sales and revenue trends across business categories, and uses data to identify which months of the year are particularly hot for any one category ( i.e. representing roughly 9% or more of the category’s annual sales). Here’s how this shakes out for Q4 for some of public media’s strongest sponsorship categories (and a few others thrown in for good measure):
| Category | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|
|
All retail
|
|
|
X |
|
Book stores
|
|
|
X |
|
Consumer electronics stores
|
|
X |
X |
|
Department stores
|
|
|
X |
|
Discount stores
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
Hobby/toy/game stores
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
Home furnishings
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
Jewelry
|
|
X |
X |
|
Men’s wear
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
Supermarkets
|
X
|
|
|
Courtesy RAB
And don’t forget about Fall holidays and special promotions to tie into your sales efforts and proposals to create a sense of urgency. Here’s a few to help get the brainstorming started:
October
- Indigenous People’s Day
- Mental Illness Awareness Week
- Halloween
November
- Veteran’s Day
- Thanksgiving
- Giving Tuesday
December
- Human Rights Day
- FIFA World Cup
- Christmas
Last but not least, remember that we are still in the midst of a local digital sales boom, and this is likely to continue as we approach the holidays. So, in addition to prospecting business categories that make sense for Q4 given what we know about spending and special holidays or promotions, think about creative ways you can connect your quality audience to these clients through your station’s valued digital products, content, and services. Remember, every proposal that goes out the door should include at least two digital products.
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