How to avoid seasonal marketing disorder

With different audiences in winter and summer, completely different activities, different messaging strategies, different price points and different channels, it can be easy for some destinations (especially mountain destinations) to have seasonal marketing disorder. ie. when your core brand isn't recognizable from one season to another. We won't point any fingers here but examples of this disorder are easy to find. Here are a few strategies to ensure your brand essence shines through regardless of season.

1. Recognize that your social followers might be skewed to one season - we often see this with ski destinations who have passionate, active and engaged skiers and riders as the majority of their social followers. Those same destinations in trying to promote summer products should not expect the same levels of engagement. A passionate skier is different from a waterpark family or a person who likes hiking. Manage your expectations around engagement with this audience but maintain your consistent posting and sharing of content. We see some destinations get discouraged by the lower level of engagement in Summer and de-prioritize content creation and storytelling as a result. 
2. Maintain your brand's tone of voice - a well-established tone of voice should be applicable to either season. If your destination has a tendency to shift drastically from one season to the next in how it sounds to a visitor, consider revisiting your tone of voice guidelines and ensuring these are created with all seasons in mind. Too often, tone of voice documents are focused on endemic ski terms that just don't have an equivalent in Summer months. (i.e we live for epic pow :)
3. Balance of brand vs. tactical - While many mountain destinations shift to a more tactical, promotional and price based messaging in the Summer, the need for brand building doesn't go away. A strong brand awareness campaign for Summer is likely the best solution to ensure you're creating awareness in guests' inspiration and dreaming phase. We often see mountain destinations skip right to the "book now and save" message in Summer which really misses the opportunity to shine a light on the deeper draw of a mountain place brand in Summer and to connect emotionally with that audience. 
4. Budget for Seasonal Photography - is the photography style consistent across seasons? Are you showcasing the same emotional connection with the place? The same awe-inspiring beauty? As a majority of mountain destinations have lower visitation in Summer, their budgets tend to reflect that. Maintaining a budget for quality assets in the Summer is critical to that brand consistency.