• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 21, 2013

June, July and August are known for vacations, outdoor activities -- and, yes, weddings -- but marketers need to capitalize on the seasons, whether summer, fall, winter or spring. Events that occur during certain months can support marketing strategies for related industries, too. Here's why.

Marketers know that planning paid-search or content campaigns requires following seasonal trends. For instance, most weddings require research on flowers, but not all will end up in a bouquet in the bride's hands. Garden shops that bid on wedding-related flowers could capitalize on the term, similar to the way Sam's Club does for do-it-yourselfers.

Frankly, I'm looking for bridal bouquets, but I'm also looking to plant some flowers in the garden. It may not work for all categories, but if you can briefly sidetrack me, perhaps you have converted another click.

Overall, marketers spent more on wedding-related keyword categories since 2010. AdGooroo, citing 2011 The Knot estimates, pegs consumer spend on average at $27,000 per wedding. At 2 million U.S. weddings per year, the bridal category is worth millions.

Each month in the year provides a focus. December is the most popular month to get engaged, but January represents the peak planning month. Showing the fluctuations, AdGooroo put together a list that ranks top terms.

Searches on engagement or wedding ring triggered 29.2% of wedding related paid-search ads on U.S. AdWords in 2012. In fact, marketers spent about $13.5 million on those keyword terms last year. AdGooroo estimates the more than 303 million impressions on wedding and engagement ring related terms produced more than 8.5 million clicks at a 2.8% click-through rate (CTR) and $1.58 cost per click (CPC).

The category of dress and gown followed at No. 2. Marketers spent nearly $5 million in this category. AdGooroo estimates that more than 279 million impressions on dress and gown-related terms produced more than 9.8 million clicks at a 3.5% CTR and $0.50 CPC. Overall, categories like rings, dresses, invites, flowers, favors and more cost $32.5 million, producing more than 1 billion impressions or 37.2 million clicks at an estimated 3.6% CTR and $0.87 CPC.

David's Bridal retained the top position, with wedding favor retailer WrapWithUs.com remaining in the second position. There were only three new Top 10 entrants in 2012 to the list, including Simply Bridal, Misses Dressy and Bridesire. And 36% of advertisers within 2012's Top 50 ranked below that territory in 2011, evidence of significant volatility among the sellers in the category.