Effective Marketing Ideas for Slow Summer Periods
Summer is an challenging time across a wide variety of industries. Sure, there is a ton of foot traffic, and people are getting out and about to enjoy the weather; but it’s also a time of year when people go on vacation, take time off to spend with the family or have to worry about finding daycare or camps for their kids.
If you’re feeling the pressure of a sluggish summer, it’s likely that other competitors in your market are feeling the same thing. But there a few things you can do to drum up some activity and set yourself up to hit the ground running in the fall when everyone is back from holidays.
Here are a few effective digital marketing ideas to take advantage of during slow summer months:
Ramp Up Your Social Media
Some studies show that more people check Facebook and Instagram on mobile devices in the summer. This could be chalked up to people waiting in airports, killing time between summer fun, or simply posting more because they are doing more exciting things. Either way, in the summer, your social posting should be more frequent than at other times of the year.
This doesn’t necessarily mean pushing out super salesy items with aggressive CTAs; it can be as simple as wishing your followers a “happy weekend” or posting some inspirational quotes. Anything like this will keep you fresh in their mind and more likely to interact while they kill time on their phones.
Switch to Mobile Marketing Strategies
No one is sitting at their desk answering emails during the summer – well, they are, but way less frequently. The key to communicating with clients in the summer is doing so through mobile channels. This means texting, sending MMS messages (picture texts) and links through texts. If you don’t feel like spending so much time on the phone yourself, you can automate some of these features through apps and CRM platforms designed to help with mobile communications. If you switch to a mobile tactic, you will get more replies and notice a greater return on investment when it comes to your time and money spent on contacting clients in the summer.
Create a Sense of Urgency
Around this time of year, we can all feel it; that instant dread as soon as you start to see the leaves change color. Summer is fleeting, and if you create a sense of urgency with your marketing materials, you can mimic that feeling and get more clients to convert.
Advertise things for a limited time only and focus on exclusivity rather than mass marketing. This will ensure clients feel the pressure and want to take advantage of your offers before they are gone.
Freshen Everything Up
People’s mindset changes in the summer, and as the last few days of summer holidays start to wane; they will slowly be brought back to reality. This is the perfect time to refresh everything. Try something new, change your retargeting ads, re-assess your SEO strategy, or even add a new feature to your website. Remember how great it felt starting school with new notebooks and a fresh outfit for the first day? Try to recreate that for your business branding and online presence with some new, fresh content and exciting ideas.
Things like this will help you stand out and will put your brand at the forefront of their minds when clients start getting back into their post-summer-holiday routine.
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