Many companies find summer to be a slow season for sales. But it doesn’t have to be! With some clever marketing and accurate audience targeting, you can make summer your best-selling season of the year. Here are five summer marketing ideas for your small business.
Create summer-themed content
Content is what makes the marketing world go ‘round. Get your customers in the seasonal mood with some summer-themed content like social posts and blogs.
For social content, the goal is to stand out. With millions of posts uploaded every single day, it’s easy for brands to get lost. The best way to stand out is to make eye-catching content that your followers can’t ignore.
Since you’re busy running a business, you likely don’t have time to design amazing graphics from scratch. Luckily, there are thousands of free small business templates available online from websites like PosterMyWall. Coupled with their easy-to-use editor, you can get professional-level summer graphics for your social media channels in a flash!
For your website, consider writing a few summer-themed blogs. For example, talk about how your product or service works to solve a problem in the summer season. Not only does this content bring more visitors to your website and help your customers with their problems, but it also helps with your website search engine optimization (SEO).
Offer limited-time summer deals
Nobody can resist a good deal. And if you want to get more customers to your business, offer some limited-time summer discounts.
Right away, the discount will get more people through the door. But the fact that they’re only available for a limited time (just for the summer) adds a sense of urgency that will encourage more people to take advantage of the sales quickly — or else they might miss out!
You can have some fun with your deals by making them summer themed. For example, offer a discount on a summer-specific product or service. At the very least, you can give your sale a fun name like the “Sizzling Summer Sale” to play on the summer weather.
Host a social media contest or giveaway
Summer is a time for fun. And what could be more fun than a contest or giveaway!? Social media contests are a powerful way to get more engagement on your social media channels.
Start by coming up with a premise for your contest. For example, ask your followers to post a funny picture of themselves enjoying their summer vacation using one of your products. Next, pick the prize. The better the prize, the more entries you’ll get. After a set deadline, you pick your favorite photo, and that follower wins the prize.
Just remember to ask contestants to tag your business in their submission posts. Not only does it give you an easy way to track entries, but all those tags help with your page’s engagement.
Work with other local businesses
You’re not the only one looking to get more sales this summer. Other local businesses also want to get in on some of that warm, sunny action! So why not work together to make your marketing efforts twice as effective?
Collaborating with other local businesses is a great way to extend your marketing reach to new audiences. Your regular customers will learn about their business, and their customers will learn about yours, effectively doubling your customer base.
These collaborations are most effective when you work with a business that compliments yours. For example, a restaurant and a bakery or a clothing retailer and a shoe store would be ideal partners. They don’t directly compete with one another but offer similar products.
Once you find a good partner, run some advertisements and create collaborative content together. Show your respective customer bases that if they like your business, they’ll like your partner’s products, too — and vice versa. You could also co-host a fun summer event or pop-up shop to draw more customers in to see your collaboration in action.
Make vacation-friendly product bundles
A major part of any marketing campaign is to know your target audience. And when the summer starts to heat up, people want to go on vacation. Tourists and travelers are a great way to boost your sales in the summer.
Vacationers are always looking for fun souvenirs or quick replacements for things they forgot (or couldn’t fit in their luggage). Put together some product bundles specifically designed for tourists.
For example, you could offer a souvenir package that comes with a hat, t-shirt, and refrigerator magnet with your city’s name on it. You could put together more helpful product packages like sunscreen, a beach towel, and umbrella for enjoying a day relaxing in the sun.
Make this summer the best sales season of the year
Summer really heats things up, and it’s not just about the weather. Watch your summer sales skyrocket by creating seasonal content for your website and social media, offering limited-time seasonal deals, hosting a social media contest, working with other local businesses, and putting together some summer-themed product bundles.
With all your creative marketing promotions, summer just might be your most profitable season yet!
