Overview: Addressing these 7 awesome marketing strategies you can use this summer will help your business and customers!
If you’re a business owner, would you say summer is more about applying great marketing tips and less about beach days and vacations? Maybe. And we get it — summer is fun, but business is still business.
Summer is the ideal season for businesses to feature unique campaigns to support the business while satisfying your audience. Thankfully, with great weather comes great opportunities for marketing and branding your business.
Here are some tips we’ll be covering today that we encourage you to pay attention to for the next several months:
Follow the weather & local events
Treat your customers
Clear excess inventory (summer sale)
Host a scavenger hunt
Take advantage of mobile advertising
Embrace the season with outdoor arrangements
Review spring data to gauge summer purchases
Summer is already among us and, when done right, summer marketing can be a great way for small businesses to overcome a slight dip in traffic. Let’s consider these tips in more detail.
Unique summer marketing tip 1: Follow the weather & local events
We mentioned it earlier, but the change in weather results in a change in opportunities for marketing and branding your business. This means a change in events.
As a small business owner, keep your eyes open for opportunities to leverage what’s going on locally to promote your business. For example, the C7D team has recently started a collaboration project for an end-of-summer/beginning of autumn event with one of our partners and friends, Touch A Truck.
Aside from the project being a well-known annual event in the Redlands community, the end of summer is generally known for warm days that aren’t too warm, sunny skies, and just the right amount of breeze. The Touch A Truck event is the perfect opportunity for us to wrap up summer without having to stress ourselves to get out there.
For businesses who don’t have upcoming collaborations with locals, social media and sidewalk signage work particularly well.
This would also be another good opportunity for an email campaign to help you quickly capitalize on extra-hot days. (“It’s going to be 90 today — 2-for-1 ice cream cones!”)
Related article(s): Six Quick and Easy Summer Marketing
Unique summer marketing tip 2: Treat your customers
Remember that scene in the movie Pursuit of Happyness when Will’s character, Chris Gardner, is invited to a San Francisco 49ers game by a top-level pension fund manager? Some of us might’ve asked what that was all about — but that’s a thing.
In the world of business-partnership, taking potential business partners or big-name clients out to a sporting event or high-class venue for entertainment purposes isn’t a foreign concept.
Turns out, this isn’t only specific to bigger businesses. According to the Small Business Association (SBA), there’s no reason why a small business can’t do this for all of its customers too. What are some budget-friendly things a small business can do?
You can host a community-wide picnic at a local park or even partner with a local restaurant, winery, or bar as a way to say thank you to your customers while building goodwill throughout your community!
Just remember this: You can claim all customer entertainment as a tax deduction as long as you can state a clear business purpose for it. But while we’re on the subject, don’t forget about your big clients or partners. Treat them to a special event as well to keep the relationship strong!
Related article(s): 6 Tried and True Summer Marketing Tips For Small Business
Unique summer marketing tip 3: Clear excess inventory with a summer sale
Got leftover inventory from the spring or even winter season? Don’t let them go to waste. Simply create an opportunity to move older products from shelves so you can make room for new items. Do this by promoting a discount.
Designate a special landing page for last season’s clearance and sales items. Add a pop-up or banner to your website and push out an email campaign that encourages your customers to get the “deal of the summer!”
Related article(s): Summer Marketing Tips To Make The Most Of The Season
Unique summer marketing tip 4: Host a summertime scavenger hunt
I remember one scavenger hunt that covered a span of at least three different cities! Scavenger hunts are fun but could still be helpful for your business and the community, especially if you’re able to organize a scavenger hunt with other local businesses.
How it’s done: Hide gift cards or small items around the city and give clues out via social media or automated texts. Participants can either send a photo of them/their team with the requested item or tag you on social media. Or they could collect the items and all return to the main location after a certain time where teams could compare items. The winner could also be announced with all teams present.
Of course, you can do this on your own without other business, but it can also be fun to have more people involved. When someone finds something relating to your business, it gives them a reason to come in.
This will encourage people to get active while also encouraging a fun, unique, and unexpected (but highly anticipated) way to engage with the community. Plus, who doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt?
Related article(s): Heat Up Your Socials: Twenty Summer Marketing Ideas You Need to Try
Unique summer marketing tip 5: Take advantage of mobile advertising
While people may be taking a break from work and their desktops, they’re not leaving their phones behind. (This might be considered the easiest of all steps simply because of it’s, well, simplicity!) In fact,
According to Michael Hubbard from Media Two Interactive, increased efforts around paid media support for mobile apps or even mobile website-based advertising should be a priority.
And here’s the thing: Mobile advertising is one of the most cost-efficient ways to reach your target customers. Being budget-friendly means that marketers can afford to increase the frequency of sending messages or even target new customers repeatedly.
Related article(s): Fighting The Summer Slowdown: 13 Marketing Tips To Get Consumers’ Attention; What is Mobile Advertising and How Does it Work?
Unique summer marketing tip 6: Embrace the summer season and vibes with outdoor arrangements
Similar to “go where the people are,” this tip is to encourage you to join your customers outdoors by setting up sidewalk sales outside your shop. After all, the best way people enjoy a beautiful summer day is by going outside.
As you set up your stall, make sure it’s welcoming from decor to customer service. Don’t forget to create enticing summer-friendly signs to generate interest in your brand.
Related article(s): 10 Tips For Your Summer Marketing Campaigns
Unique summer marketing tip 7: Review spring data to gauge what consumers will purchase this summer
Outdoor furniture, gardening tools, BBQs and grills — summer is a time where consumers typically begin making purchases.
According to Criteo data, in April 2020, gardening sales rose to a whopping 364 percent, outdoor living sales rose 302 percent, and chair and sofa cushions rose by 290 percent!
In order to make the most of your summer marketing, it’s important to understand what your customers have already purchased so you can provide them with complimentary product offerings in your advertising.
Related article(s): 3 Strategies for Summer Marketing 2020: Preparation and Adaptation