Should I stop marketing in my slow season?

Usually not entirely. Pause or trim paid ads if leads cost more than your ceiling, but keep collecting reviews and improving pages. That slow-season work is what makes the busy season cheaper.

When should a heating company start autumn marketing?

Prepare pages, profile updates and campaigns in August and early September, so they're running before the first cold nights. Starting when the phones are already ringing means paying peak prices to catch up.

Are energy rebates worth mentioning in my ads?

They can be, if you're eligible and the program is open. Link to the official administrator, state the date you checked, and tell customers to confirm eligibility themselves. Programs change often.

Markham Seasonal Marketing Calendar for Trades

Demand for most Markham trades and storefronts rises and falls with the seasons, but most marketing budgets don't. The fix is simple: build in the quiet months, spend in the run-up to peaks, and pull back when leads cost more than they're worth. This guide gives you the sum that sets your limits, then a month-by-month plan you can adapt to your own trade.

Start with your ceiling

Answer first: before you plan any month, know the most you can pay for a lead. Everything else in the calendar is about spending up to that limit when demand is high and well below it when it isn't.

The sum takes three numbers:

Average job value. Use the last six months of invoices.
Gross margin. What's left after materials, direct labour and subcontractors, as a percentage.
Close rate. Of the genuine enquiries you quote, how many become jobs.

Multiply them: job value × margin × close rate. That's what one lead is worth to you in first-job margin, and it's your break-even cost per lead.

Example for a Markham landscaping and interlock firm:

Average job: $3,200
Margin: 38%, so $1,216
Close rate: 30%
Break-even per lead: $1,216 × 0.30 = about $365

A sensible target is 60 to 75% of break-even, here about $220 to $275, so there's profit left and room for leads that go nowhere. In peak months you may tolerate the higher end; in shoulder months, hold to the lower one.

The Markham year at a glance

Answer first: the city's year follows southern Ontario's seasons, with cold winters and warm, humid summers, plus a school calendar and cultural holidays that shape household spending.

Months	General mood	Typical focus
January–February	Cold, post-holiday budgets	Heating emergencies, indoor projects, planning
March–April	Thaw and spring rain	Roofs, eavestroughs, sump pumps, basements, landscaping enquiries
May–June	Outdoor season starts	Landscaping, interlock, decks, fences, AC tune-ups and installs
July–August	Peak heat, holidays	AC repairs, outdoor projects, main-street visitors
September–October	Back to school, first cold	Furnace and boiler servicing, windows, fall clean-ups
November–December	Cold sets in, holiday season	Heating, snow services, gifts and events for storefronts

Month-by-month plan

January and February: build and review

Answer first: late winter is when foundations get fixed most cheaply. Many trades are quieter, apart from heating emergencies.

Re-score your service area using last year's jobs. Our service-area guide explains how.
Update service pages, add new project photos and ask last year's customers for reviews.
Plan spring campaigns now. Write ad copy and pages for roofing, basement or landscaping work before the first warm week.
Storefronts: Lunar New Year usually falls in late January or February, and for many Markham households it's an important time for gifts, food and family gatherings. Plan offers and opening hours well ahead if it matters to your customers.

March and April: spring trigger

Answer first: the thaw creates urgent outdoor and water problems, and homeowners start planning summer projects.

Launch or raise budgets for roofing, eavestrough, sump pump and waterproofing searches.
Landscapers and fence builders: enquiries for summer start now. Get quotes out fast; the first company to respond often wins.
Heating and cooling firms: begin promoting AC tune-ups and replacements before the first heat.
Check location targeting: Google Ads lets you target specific postal areas, so focus spend on the communities in your core.

May and June: outdoor peak begins

Answer first: demand is high for outdoor and cooling work, so spend toward the top of your ceiling, but only for services you can actually schedule.

Trim ads for services already booked out for weeks. Paying for leads you can't serve is pure waste.
Collect reviews after each completed outdoor job, while the result looks its best.
Storefronts on Main Street Unionville and Main Street Markham: patio season and weekend visitors begin. Keep hours and photos current on your profile.

July and August: hold and prepare

Answer first: summer peaks for AC and outdoor work, but it's also when you should be preparing autumn.

Keep AC and emergency campaigns running within the ceiling.
Prepare autumn heating content and campaigns in August.
Families plan back-to-school spending, so tutoring, children's activities and clothing retailers should launch September campaigns by mid-August.

September and October: the autumn push

Answer first: for heating firms, window companies and fall clean-up services, this is the most valuable window of the year.

Heating firms: furnace and boiler servicing and replacements. If you install eligible equipment, the Home Renovation Savings Program, run by Save on Energy and Enbridge Gas, offers rebates including up to $7,500 for a cold-climate air-source heat pump, as of October 2026. Programs change, so check the current terms and tell customers to confirm their own eligibility.
Window and door companies: homeowners notice draughts with the first cold nights.
Storefronts: Diwali often falls in October or November and matters to many Markham households. Plan offers and hours early if it's relevant to your customers.

November and December: cold and festive

Answer first: heating emergencies and snow services peak, while storefronts compete for holiday spending.

Snow-clearing businesses: winter contracts with business-park units and property managers are best signed before the first big snowfall. Our business-park marketing service covers this.
Storefronts: holiday hours, gift ideas and event listings, updated weekly.
Everyone: in the last weeks of December, gather the year's numbers so January's review is quick.

A one-page monthly checklist

Pin this somewhere you'll see it:

Are this month's top services the ones we're advertising?
Is cost per lead below our ceiling for each service?
Have we asked every customer from last month for a review?
Are profile hours, photos and holiday times correct?
Are next season's pages and campaigns ready?
Can we actually handle the leads we're paying for?

Common mistakes

Starting autumn marketing in November. By then, competitors who prepared in August have the reviews and the momentum.
Cutting everything in the slow season. Reviews and page work cost little and pay off later.
Running the same ad all year. A Markham homeowner in March wants a different message from one in October.
Advertising rebates without checking. If a program has changed, a confident ad can mislead customers. Link to the administrator and date your claims.

Putting the calendar to work

Adapt the table to your trade, then plan budgets month by month against your ceiling. If you'd like help, see our paid search service, read how cost works on the pricing page, or browse the other guides. We plan and run marketing only; we don't sell, install or service any equipment.

A month-by-month marketing calendar for Markham businesses