How a Landscaping Company Managed Its Marketing Budget Through Seasonal Swings

Deciding how to structure marketing support when your revenue isn't steady year-round.

A look at how businesses with pronounced peak seasons can adjust their marketing execution and spending to match revenue cycles, without committing to fixed annual costs.

Key Takeaways:

• Seasonal businesses often face a mismatch between steady marketing costs and variable revenue, which can pressure profitability during off-peak months.

• Flexible marketing support models, including project-based work or fractional services, can help align marketing activity and expense with anticipated demand.

• Planning distinct marketing phases for peak and off-seasons allows for focused investment during revenue-generating windows and efficient maintenance in slower periods.

The Seasonal Budget Misalignment

For businesses where revenue is concentrated in specific months, a constant, fixed marketing expense can become a significant burden. A landscaping company may generate 70% of its annual revenue between April and September, while a tax preparation firm's activity is intensely focused around the filing deadline. Maintaining a full-time, in-house marketing employee or a large retainer with an agency at the same level year-round means paying for capacity that isn't fully utilized for portions of the year. This misalignment can reduce net income during peak season and create cash flow pressure when business is slow.

The financial impact is measurable. According to data from Statistics Canada, businesses in seasonal industries like accommodation, food services, and agriculture often report wider fluctuations in operating profit margins compared to non-seasonal sectors, partly due to the challenge of aligning fixed costs with variable income (Title: Table 33-10-0225-01 Operating profit margin of businesses, by industry, Institution: Statistics Canada, Jurisdiction: Canada, Date: 2023-11-28, URL: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3310022501). A consistent monthly marketing salary is one such fixed cost that may not flex with this cycle.

The alternative is to treat marketing execution as a variable cost that scales with need. This involves identifying your true peak demand periods—typically tied to weather, holidays, or regulatory deadlines—and planning marketing surges to capitalize on them. The goal is to direct the majority of your marketing budget and effort into these windows to maximize lead generation and sales conversion when customer intent is highest.

 

"Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in seasonal sectors are particularly vulnerable to cash flow shortages during off-peak periods. Flexible operational models, including the use of contingent labor or service subscriptions that can be scaled up or down, can provide a buffer against these cyclical pressures and improve financial resilience."
(Title: Financing Growth for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Institution: Bank of Canada, Jurisdiction: Canada, Date: 2022, URL: https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2022/11/staff-analytical-note-2022-18/)

Structuring a Two-Speed Marketing Plan

A practical approach is to break the year into distinct marketing phases: a high-output peak season and a lower-intensity off-season. During the peak, focus shifts to performance-driven activities. This could mean a concentrated digital advertising campaign, launching a seasonal promotion with corresponding email sequences, and producing fresh sales collateral. The objective is clear: support immediate revenue generation.

When the peak subsides, the marketing plan transitions. The off-season phase focuses on maintenance and preparation. Activities include updating website content, publishing evergreen blog posts to support organic search, planning the next peak campaign, and conducting light social media engagement to maintain audience connection. Spending during this phase should be intentionally lower, reflecting the different objective.

The suitability of this model varies. For a retail business gearing up for the winter holidays, the peak phase might require intensive asset creation for advertising and social media, while the off-season involves basic website upkeep. A tutoring service facing a back-to-school surge would concentrate its efforts in late summer, then shift to developing curriculum materials or testimonial content during quieter months. An HVAC company entering the cooling season would ramp up service promotion, then use the winter for brand-building content and system maintenance offers.

"The use of temporary help services has grown in Canada, reflecting business demand for workforce flexibility. This trend is evident in sectors with seasonal patterns, where employers can adjust labor inputs in response to fluctuations in demand without the long-term commitment of a permanent hire."
(Title: Temporary Help Services in Canada, Institution: Government of Canada, Labour Program, Jurisdiction: Canada, Date: 2023-03-23, URL: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/ labour-standards/reports/temporary-help-services.html)

Putting Flexibility into Practice

Managing marketing for a seasonal business is less about a single annual plan and more about orchestrating different levels of effort throughout the year. Start by charting your revenue months and your slower periods with as much precision as possible. This timeline becomes the foundation for your two-speed marketing calendar.

Next, audit your past marketing activities and costs. Categorize them as either essential for maintaining your online presence or directly tied to driving peak-season sales. This exercise helps identify where fixed costs might be trimmed or converted to variable ones. For instance, instead of an annual website hosting and maintenance retainer, could you opt for a project-based update twice a year?

Finally, research service models that accommodate scaling. Look for providers that offer clear project pricing or subscription tiers that can be paused or adjusted. The key is transparency: understand what deliverables and level of effort are included at different investment points. The right structure is one that allows you to activate substantial support when you need it most and scale back efficiently when you don't, keeping your marketing spend in closer sync with your revenue graph.

Article Recap

This article examined the challenge seasonal businesses face with fixed marketing costs in a variable revenue environment. It highlighted how a mismatch between steady expenses and cyclical income can affect profitability, citing data on operating margin fluctuations in seasonal industries. The discussion proposed a two-speed marketing model, separating the year into a high-output peak season focused on direct response and sales conversion, and a lower-intensity off-season dedicated to maintenance and preparation. Expert commentary from the Bank of Canada and Canada's Labour Program was included to underscore the financial rationale for operational flexibility and the growing use of adaptable service models. The piece concluded with practical steps for business owners to analyze their revenue cycles, audit marketing costs, and seek service structures that can be scaled up or down, aiming to create a more aligned and efficient marketing investment over the course of a year.

FAQ

1. What is the biggest financial risk of having a full-time marketer in a seasonal business?
   The primary risk is the fixed salary cost, which continues during your off-peak months when revenue is low. This can turn your profitable peak season into a period that must also subsidize the slow season, reducing overall annual net income. A practical next step is to calculate the annual fully-loaded cost of that employee (salary, benefits, taxes, tools) and compare it to your monthly net profit in the off-season to see the direct impact.

2. How do I know if my business is seasonal enough to need this approach?
   Review at least two years of monthly revenue data. If you see a consistent pattern where 60% or more of your annual revenue comes from a contiguous 4-6 month period, your business has a pronounced seasonal cycle. For a more formal assessment, the Canada Revenue Agency provides guidelines on what constitutes a seasonal business for tax and employment insurance purposes, which can be a useful reference (Title: Guide for Canadian Small Businesses, Institution: Canada Revenue Agency, Jurisdiction: Canada, Date: 2024-02-01, URL: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4070/guide-canadian-small-businesses.html).

3. Won't scaling marketing down in the off-season hurt my brand visibility?
   The off-season plan is not about stopping entirely, but shifting focus. Visibility is maintained through lower-cost, sustained activities like SEO-optimized website content, occasional social media updates, and email newsletters. The trade-off is accepting lower investment and outbound promotional intensity during periods when customer demand is inherently low, preserving budget for the high-demand windows where it has greater impact.

4. What types of marketing tasks are best for the off-season maintenance phase?
   Off-season tasks are typically foundational, not urgent. Examples include: conducting an audit of your website's performance and updating key service pages, writing and scheduling blog posts that answer common customer questions, gathering and formatting client testimonials, planning the creative concept and calendar for your next peak campaign, and performing basic social media community management. The expectation is that these activities require fewer hours per week than peak tasks.

5. How do I find and vet flexible marketing service providers?
   Start by searching for terms like "project-based marketing," "fractional CMO," or "marketing retainers with flexible hours." Look for providers that publish clear service catalogs with pricing or detailed project scopes. When vetting, ask specific questions about their process for ramping up at the start of a peak campaign and scaling down after. Request case studies or references from other clients with seasonal patterns. A clear path forward is to start with a single, well-defined project (e.g., a seasonal ad campaign) to evaluate fit before committing to a longer-term flexible arrangement.

6. Can I use this model if I already have a small in-house team?
   Yes. In this case, the flexible model supplements your core team. Your permanent staff handles the consistent, year-round baseline of operations. Then, during your peak season, you engage supplemental external support for the surge in specialized or executional work, such as extra design assets, paid ad management, or content production. This approach controls long-term headcount while providing the temporary capacity you need. The decision criteria involve comparing the cost of overtime, temporary burnout, and missed opportunities against the cost of contracted surge support.