Recently updated on January 19th, 2018 at 11:59 pm
Summer is definitely heating up and it is time that you should start creating a marketing campaign to take advantage of that. The weather is changing. People are going out and traveling. Seasonality definitely has a significant effect on consumer spending. Being aware of summer trends and planning accordingly can help your marketing effort gain traction and maximize your sales.
Awareness of marketing trends can help boost your summer promotion
Creating a full marketing strategy involves a lot of work (and a lot of ice cream in my case). But summer is underway and you are probably short on time to properly conceptualize and flesh out an idea. Of course, you can just do the traditional “summer sale” and have a mid-year discount to boost your sales. It does work in the short term but summer can be so much more than a 10% off the price tag. It can be the missing strategy that you need to increase your customer base and boost your sales.
Time to get creative! Here are some of the easiest summer marketing ideas you need to try this vacation season.
Online traffic tends to decline during the summer season. Perhaps your customers may be out on a vacation. Maybe it’s the summer holidays that make them want to hang out with friends or go to unfamiliar places. It makes sense to lower your online activity in the summer then, right? Wrong. It’s actually quite the opposite. Summertime is crucial in building up your marketing momentum to take advantage of the sales boost during the holiday season. The best course of action for this is to increase your consumer base, starting with your online followers.
Increasing your audience is crucial if you want your brand message heard.
Creating social media contests can indeed increase your social media fans. Activities like photo and video contests with prizes that are useful and relevant to your target market can boost your lead generation. Just don’t forget to encourage “likes” and ask them for email addresses so you can build a relationship with them.
People have always liked getting gift certificates. Nowadays, people also like giving them. Culturally, they have become an acceptable form of gifts. About 81% of Americans purchase at least one gift card during holidays and they remain popular during Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and of course, summer.
Personalized gift cards are great giveaways for summer promotion.
Gift cards continue being the easy choice to give moms, dads, newlyweds and fresh graduates. Plus, gift cards also have the added benefit of personal recommendation from peers, which is actually the most trusted form of advertising.
The most popular industries for gift cards and vouchers are restaurants, department stores, and online shops. Businesses related to travel such as hotels, resorts, and tourist spots will definitely take advantage of these summer deals. Use them as prizes for your social media contests or as rewards through a loyalty program. You can even give them to your employees as a reward for their work.
I know I’ve been talking about this for quite a while now but hear me out. I seriously think that social media influencers are highly underutilized in the marketing environment.
Social media influencers have several hundreds of followers for a good reason. They build rapport with their audience. Their followers are genuinely interested about their day-to-day lives, especially if they have plans for the summer. Thus, partnering with social media influencers can improve your summer marketing strategy.
Influencers have followers who are interested in their everyday lives.
Research for influencers that share the same target audience as you do. Create a mutually beneficial partnership through cross-promotion and even sponsoring some material for their blog posts. This could take the form of discounts, product reviews, and other summer deals you might have in store. Also, you can ask them to promote your social media contests or authorize them to give away gift certificates from your vacation promotion. If you continue this relationship and compensate well, you have a partner for life.
Start a Magnet Marketing Campaign
You know what the coolest place is to check out every summer? It’s the fridge. Nothing beats the convenience of refrigerators for providing drinks and desserts to cool off the body to combat the summer heat. Coincidentally, it also has this large door area that is the perfect place to promote your business through refrigerator magnets.
The fridge door is an underutilized marketing space.
Try creating magnets that are useful to your target market. Custom magnets such as calendars, to-do lists, or even just a blank magnetic dry erase board that include your contact information can be effective for reminding your customers about your relationship with them.
The summer season should not be an excuse to justify your marketing efforts to idle out. It’s all the more reason for you to get resourceful and think of summer promotion ideas for your next sizzling vacation promotion. Now excuse me while I get more of that ice cream.
