The Christmas break is approaching and all university departments are getting busy finalizing their end-of-year work. For busy marketers and conference organizers a Christmas break might seem not to be the best time of the year to promote their courses and conferences to a wider audience. However, our experience at INOMICS confirms that it is not exactly true. Of course, much depends on your target audience: but while for many December 25th will be almost certainly dedicated to family commitments, for many the days before and after Christmas represent one of the few times of the year that they can actually spend searching more deeply for information in their field of interest, especially with regard to extra training and conferences.

Our customers often ask us “When is a good time to advertise?” and “Does it make sense to advertise during festive seasons?” we gathered a list of arguments for you to help you decide why Christmas break can, in fact, be the right season for you to start promoting your Courses, Workshops and Conferences for the upcoming year.

 1.    The Geo-Factor matters. Most of the courses and conferences advertised on INOMICS target an international audience. In fact, many advertisers target specific regions. If in your home country Christmas is considered to be “dead season”, in many others it might not even be a public holiday. Good examples include Russia, where Christmas is celebrated only on 07 January, or China, where only 01 January is an official public holiday.

2.    Grasping participants’ attention is easier. As a large number of organizations will still close their operations for the festive season, the amount of advertisements during the period will be naturally lower. For those who will nevertheless opt for putting their announcements online it will ultimately mean less competition for the attention of applicants.

3.    Get more and better access to personal social media networks. One of the main sources of applicants for our customers is the INOMICS social media network, which reaches out to over 200,000 users through the personal social networks of our followers. With less activity form other institutions, and hence less competition for the display space, the chance to be shown on the maximum number of users’ networks increases significantly.

 4.    Give seekers more time before the deadline. The longer you postpone a full-force promotion for your courses and events, waiting for the optimal time, the less time is left before the deadline. Less time to prepare for applications can, unfortunately, scare off qualified participants, who give preference to planning ahead.

 5.    Seekers have more free time. For many busy and ambitious people, into which category most academics fall, the holiday season is not just an opportunity to spend a lot of time with the family, but also to get their hands on the items from their to-do-lists. This especially affects things like applications, where one might need a lot of headspace to work on essays and motivation statement.

 6.    Be the first on the list. Planning the year, especially related to budget spending, doesn’t start on 01 January, but much earlier. If you haven’t advertised your courses and conferences yet, and especially if the application deadline is in the first half of the year, the end of December might be the last chance still to appear on the top of the list for the year 2014.

 7.    Users tend to look at things more positively. It is a proven fact that when people are in a more relaxed and rested state, they tend to see things more positively and be more open and accepting. Of course, decisions about course applications do not happen overnight, but a less stressed condition can definitely help motivation!

As the season will only be picking up in January, we have special solutions to make sure that your announcement will appear near the top of relevant lists on INOMICS not only during the festive season, but also into the new year as well. To learn more drop us an email at info@inomics.com, or have a look at our Portfolio for Course and Conference Advertisers.