Does the UK weather effect marketing?

This is something that many have pondered - does the weather effect marketing?

In the UK we are blessed with the weather changing throughout the day more or less every day.  However during the seasons of extreme weather - this can effect marketing, and here are a couple of examples:

December 2010 - Snow Hits UK

During the beginning of December 2010, the UK was hit by a very cold spell, causing massive amounts of snow and freezing temperatures (going down to -21.6C in Altnaharra (which is on par with the South Pole)).

This had the effect, that many people could not go into work, as a result less marketing was going on, enquiry numbers dropped and generally the whole UK ground to a halt.

Even many air flights were canceled from taking off and landing - resulting in food shortages in supermarkets across the UK.

Summer in the UK

Summer does not really happen in the UK as it used to (back in the day) but looking at the end of May/beginning of June this is normally a period where temperatures go up to 30C+.  As a result, more people take days off for holiday,gardening sick leave etc.  As a result, marketing activity slows down and some companies (particularly in manufacturing) go on a shut down.

For many companies, this is very bad news, if your business is reliant on marketing enquiries coming through then to have seasonal periods of famine can cause problems.  On the other hand, forward planning marketing activity around these seasonal deserts can also work either by having a marketing campaign ready to run, or to have a shut down yourselves.

The main thing that businesses need to recognise, is that marketing is effected by seasonal trends, whether the sun during the spring time (which lets face it, is what May is) or the snow in December - it is going to have an effect on sales and marketing as a whole.

If you are struggling with getting consistency of new business enquiries, it may be best to talk to a marketing company about how to forward plan for the quiet periods and ensure that your business does not suffer the shock waves the British weather can bring.