Staying relevant in a trend-loving society can be the crux of an app marketers strategy. It’s all too easy to use top buzzwords in campaigns or base messaging around the latest event in the media. However, the real trick to winning valuable, long-term users is creating evergreen marketing strategies that will bring return on investment long after the latest fads fade away.

Evergreen marketing is a sustainable marketing approach that doesn’t rely on current trends or events. Seasonal marketing campaigns serve their purpose to draw users in during specific times of the year or during one-time events.  Combining a seasonal and evergreen marketing approach is the optimal strategy for not only growing users, but also creating long-term brand awareness and driving high ROI. 

Difference Between Seasonal and Evergreen Campaigns

An evergreen marketing strategy refers to an “always-on” approach, in which a brand has a campaign running every month on a secured budget. Evergreen marketing campaigns aren’t focused on a specific launch or promotion, but rather awareness of the brand itself and long-term growth goals. These types of campaigns are launched specifically to draw in audiences during all seasons to be strategically repurposed throughout the year. 

Seasonal marketing campaigns can be divided into two main categories: time-based and event-based. Time-based seasonal campaigns revolve around certain seasons such as summer or winter and typically repeat on a yearly basis. Event-based campaigns focus on holidays, concerts or even upcoming movie or album premieres, for example, and do not always repeat themselves annually. 

Seasonal marketing tends to be more time-sensitive and can be extremely beneficial when capturing your audience's attention in the moment. These campaigns are great for creating immediate buzz for a short amount of time, while evergreen campaigns help with long-term brand awareness and recognition by users. 

Why Evergreen Campaigns?

As enticing and trendy as seasonal campaigns are, they are short lived. A brand will likely have success with their seasonal marketing pushes, if planned and executed correctly, but once those periods end, brands can end up back to square one if another strategy isn't implemented immediately. This is where evergreen marketing campaigns come into play, solving the long term need to remain consistent with mobile advertising investments in order to optimize and reach the highest return. Keeping your marketing campaigns evergreen while also creating seasonal pushes is the key to success when it comes to retaining users and growing an audience. 

Brand Awareness

While seasonal content may bring a brand attention in the short run and create a sudden rise in brand awareness, evergreen marketing creates a longer lasting brand presence that has a greater impact with users in the long run. Keeping an evergreen campaign strategy will allow customers to engage with a brand over a longer period of time and therefore, stay top of mind for users, ideally generating the end goal of a larger more consistent brand following. 

Changing campaign strategies frequently can have an adverse effect and alienate brands from their desired audience. Targeted audiences will get confused on the brand message when strategies are shifted everytime there is a new trend. Keeping an evergreen, consistent campaign throughout the year will build a positive brand image and relevancy in users minds, making brands instantly identifiable.

Increased Campaign Data

Using an evergreen marketing strategy allows brands to collect data over an extended period of time. Running campaigns based on seasonal pushes is going to limit the amount of accurate data available to assess success and if needed. Evergreen campaigns allow marketers to see exactly where there might be any user drop-off and at what point users come back to then engage with the app. 

The longer the campaign runs, the better quality of data is available to analyze and utilize for further investments or decision making. Having a pulse on a user's journey within the campaign allows for knowledgeable iterations to be made that will end up driving a higher conversion rate. There are also more opportunities to A/B test when campaigns are kept evergreen since rich data sets are readily available to test with. 

Long term commitment to a campaign strategy not only provides data that is needed to make smart messaging and content decisions, but also allows for ample time to adapt and experiment in a fast-paced environment. 

Cohesive Messaging 

Evergreen campaigns help create baseline, recognizable messages for users that highlight the importance of the brand. These evergreen messages should be able to be used throughout the year and accentuate the mission of the brand. Cohesive, evergreen messaging should let the audience know exactly what results or benefits are provided to users. Evergreen campaign copy should be recognizable so that users instantly know what brand they are interacting with based on messaging.  

Combining the cohesive message built into an evergreen campaign strategy along with seasonal content allows users to see a more holistic view of a brand. The seasonal messaging shows the audience that the brand is trendy and forward thinking. Making sure that campaigns remain consistent instills a sense of reliability for your users. 

Takeaways of Evergreen Marketing Campaigns

Evergreen marketing is an effective communications strategy that doesn’t rely on current trends or events. Seasonal marketing campaigns serve their purpose by drawing users in during specific times of the year or during one-time events. Combining a seasonal and evergreen marketing strategy can be  powerful for sustaining advertisingROI and app user engagement. 

Here are the top three benefits of implementing evergreen marketing campaigns:

  • Brand Awareness: While seasonal content may bring brands attention in the short run and create a sudden rise in a brand’s awareness, evergreen messaging lasts in the long run. Evergreen campaigns allow customers to engage with brands over a longer period of time and therefore, stay top of mind for users, building a consistent brand adoption. 
  • Increased Campaign Data: Using an evergreen marketing strategy allows brands to collect data over an extended period of time for better decision making. Long term focused strategy to a mobile campaign allows for time to adapt and experiment with A/B testing in a fast-paced environment. 
  • Cohesive Messaging: Evergreen campaigns help create baseline messages for users to understand the importance of the brand. Cohesive, evergreen messaging should let your audience know exactly what your brand stands for and what results or benefits you provide to users. This messaging should be instantly recognizable to the target audience!