When’s the best time of year to push hard on marketing?
Some months your marketing dollars work twice as hard. Other months you're throwing money into a void. Here's how to figure out which is which, using the data you already have.
The short answer
When should you push hard? During the months when your close rate is highest and your cost per acquisition is lowest. You find this by overlaying your revenue seasonality with your ad performance history. The answer is different for every business.
Why timing matters more than budget size
A $5,000 ad budget in your best month can outperform a $15,000 budget in your worst month. The reason is simple: buyer intent is seasonal. When people are actively looking for what you sell, every dollar of marketing spend goes further because the audience is already primed to buy.
Most business owners set a flat monthly marketing budget and leave it there all year. That means you're spending the same amount in February (when nobody is buying) as you are in September (when demand is through the roof). You're subsidizing your worst months with money that should be fueling your best ones.
The fix is straightforward: figure out which months historically convert best, then shift your budget toward those months. But to do that, you need to connect your revenue data with your ad performance data, and most people never bother.
Two data sets you need to find the sweet spot
This analysis requires two things: your monthly revenue pattern over the last 12 to 24 months, and your cost per acquisition by month over the same period. When revenue is high and CPA is low, that's your window to push.
How to find your best marketing months step by step
- 1Pull 12 months of revenue from your books
In QuickBooks, go to Reports and run Profit and Loss with the date range set to the last 12 months, grouped by month. In Xero, go to Accounting → Reports → Profit and Loss and set comparison to 12 periods. Export the monthly totals.
- 2Pull 12 months of ad spend by month
In Google Ads, go to Reports → Predefined Reports → Time → Month. In Facebook Ads Manager, set the date range and break down by month. Export both.
- 3Pull lead-to-customer conversion by month from your CRM
In HubSpot, go to Reports → Deals and filter by close date, grouped by month. In Salesforce, run an Opportunity report grouped by Close Date month. You want the number of deals closed per month.
- 4Calculate CPA for each month
In a spreadsheet, divide each month's total ad spend by the number of new customers that month. This gives you cost per acquisition per month. Some months will be dramatically cheaper than others.
- 5Overlay revenue with CPA to find the sweet spot
Chart revenue and CPA on the same timeline. The months where revenue peaks and CPA dips are your push months. The months where CPA spikes and revenue is flat are your pull-back months.
Total time: 2 to 3 hours for the first analysis. You need data from your accounting software, ad platforms, and CRM, plus a spreadsheet to combine everything.
Revisit your seasonal marketing calendar quarterly
Seasonality shifts over time. A month that was strong two years ago might have softened. New competitors enter the market. Customer behavior changes. Re-run this analysis every quarter using the most recent 12 months of data so your budget allocation stays current.
Or let Bottomline show you the best months to spend
Bottomline connects to your accounting software, ad platforms, and CRM once. It continuously tracks your revenue by month, your ad spend by month, and your close rate by month. Every report shows you which periods delivered the best return and which ones underperformed.
Instead of building a spreadsheet every quarter, you see your seasonal marketing performance updated automatically. You know exactly when to increase spend and when to hold back.