Seasonal Email Campaigns — Hunting & Winter Storage

Documented from the ^[1] marketing meeting on 2025-10-27. Covers the status of two active email campaigns and timing considerations for Black Friday and Spotify promotions.

Campaign Status

Emails sent the week of 2025-10-20.
No feedback or results discussed yet; monitoring for responses.

Winter Storage

Draft emails prepared but pending client feedback as of the meeting date.
Karly committed to resending drafts to Steve immediately after the call.
The offer: customers who purchase a bike now can have it stored at the shop and pick it up in spring — no additional charge implied.

Black Friday Email Plan

Steve's standard Black Friday approach is a doorbuster sale on 1–2 bikes at a steep discount to drive foot traffic. Key timing guidance from Steve:

"What we don't want to do is start advertising that now because people won't buy a bike until the end of November… maybe start advertising it November 12th or something like that."

Channel mix: Email blast + website placement + paid ads (Google, boosted social).
Goal: Drive in-store visits, not online sales.
Avoid: Early promotion that cannibalizes current sales during the pre-Black Friday quiet period.

Winter Storage as a Black Friday Angle

Karly flagged that the winter storage offer could be bundled into Black Friday messaging — buy now at a discount, store it with us, pick it up in spring. Steve was open to it but deferred final decision to the Spotify/Black Friday review in ~one month.

Spotify Ads — Timing Consideration

Spotify ads were discussed as a potential channel for seasonal promotions but postponed. Steve's preference:

Revisit in ~one month (late November).
Potential use cases: Christmas campaign or Black Friday (if timing still works).
No creative or targeting work to begin until the channel is reactivated.

Key Insight

For seasonal retailers with a hard "dead zone" (January–March for Crazy Lenny's), email timing discipline matters as much as content. Promoting too early can suppress near-term sales without meaningfully pulling forward future ones. A mid-November start for Black Friday messaging reflects this — close enough to the event to create urgency, far enough out to build awareness.

This pattern likely applies to other clients with seasonal demand curves. See ^[2] if that article exists.

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