Revenue Down? Blame The Weather

Read an article in The Telegraph about how the warm weather in April had hit sales of products such as Bisto. Yet on the plus side, people have more barbecues when it’s warmer and as a result of last years scorching summer sales of Branston Pickle were up 40%. As a slight aside Premier Foods, owner of both these brands, could do rather better in the SERPS for their products.

So what’s gravy powder and chutney sales got to do with search marketing? Well, nothing at all really, other than these sales reports indicate how external factors can affect your search marketing endeavours. For instance, I’m sure (though I haven’t checked to confirm) that my adsense revenue drops when there’s a good footy match on TV, especially when on terrestrial TV. I notice a general decline in revenue when we have sunny/hot weekends too. It’s obvious why this happens - people tend not to sit in front of PCs looking for car insurance and dvd rentals when they get the chance to enjoy the weather.

It’s not just the weather that can suddenly have an adverse effect on your sales. Just imagine if you were an affiliate of Bernard Matthews, happily making commission on turkey twizzlers or whatever every week. Then bird flu is discovered at one of the companies turkey farms in Suffolk and everyone suddenly loses their taste for turkey - your sales plummet.

The moral of this post? Don’t rely on a single income stream for your search marketing business. Diversity is the key to success. Oh, and fingers crossed it rains!

Search Marketing