Weather + Marketing

Weather affects how we feel, what we do, where we go and most importantly what we purchase.

We all know the marketing concept that you will sell more umbrellas on a rainy day. But imagine if you knew where and when ahead of time to get in front of your customer. 

There is a bigger opportunity for many businesses to use weather-based marketing within their strategy and we want to show you how.

What has weather got to do with marketing?

If you find yourself waking up and checking the weather app on your phone instead of looking out the window, you aren’t the only one!

Weather as a marketing factor is a massive opportunity as it can increase the usefulness of a product. It has a direct influence on sales for around 30% of all products and services. This is especially key to note if your industry is reliant on weather e.g. tourism, outdoor activities.

Industries that are directly affected by the weather:

How do I create a weather triggered marketing campaign?

Start by keeping things general, focus on seasons at a high level and then plan out your content to align with the predicted weather for the upcoming months. This is still an effective way to be relevant to your audience without investing too much time and effort.  

Case Study:

Stella Artois found that by looking at actual weather forecasts instead of just seasons had a dramatic effect on sales. For their ‘Cidre’ (cider) product, they found that a 2-degree temperature rise triggered an increase in sales. Through this, they used weather-activated outdoor ads that only were shown when the weather reached a certain temperature. 

With this strategy in place, they reported a 65.6% increase in yearly sales.

Below are some useful ideas to help you leverage weather and drive sales:

• Understand your audience’s behaviour, how are they directly affected by the weather?
• Study past, present, and future predicted weather patterns for your audience’s location. 
• Find ways your business can outsmart all weather conditions. How can you drive business on off-peak days?
• Have a backlog of ad creatives ready to go based on different weather conditions.
• Use real-time information and stay agile and responsive so you can quickly rotate your ads to show the product most relevant to the weather that day. 

Be aware of third-party apps.

Third-party weather apps and websites ask for location-based permissions as soon as the app is opened, the user assuming this information is only being used to get the forecast for their exact location. However, some of these apps are then selling this data to businesses to use for targeted marketing ads. Crazy right? And why would businesses want this information?

Because they can use this information to sell you their product. They take weather factors such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and rainfall and then will promote their product most suited to you, the weather and where you are (this is where our ears prick up!). 

If you decide to go down this path, be careful as 64% of internet users are concerned about how their private information is being used by companies online. This means that if your product is being seen alongside an app with a poor reputation, it will not be good for your brand. 

Our recommendations above are clever ways you can use weather-based marketing without compromising the privacy of your consumer. 

We are in a world where you need to be relevant to build a genuine relationship with your customers and audience. Developing a weather-based marketing plan could help elevate your brand above your competitors and increase sales.

Let’s chat around how we can integrate weather-based marketing into your strategy today. 

References:
Hootsuite - Digital 2020 New Zealand
MetService - Internet Advertising
The Hustle - Weather apps can predict shopping habits.  
Global Web Index - The New Privacy Landscape