Most of us like to take things down a notch during the dog days of summer. But when it comes to marketing, August is no time to slow the pace. Here are five ideas to heat things up during the waning weeks of the season.
1. Celebrate the holidays
There’s more to celebrate than Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. For example, August is Family Fun Month, National Golf Month and National Picnic Month. It’s also the month when we celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and National Simplify Your Life Week. The list of celebrations is seemingly endless, so you’re bound to find one you can use as a hook for late-summer promotions. Of course, don’t forget that perennial season favorite: Back-to-School.
2. Be a part of summer events.
Summer is an event-packed season with festivals, concerts, farmers markets and fairs. Consider supporting events by becoming a sponsor. Most promotional packages for sponsors include pre-event advertising in addition to brand placement on programs and banners at the event. On a smaller scale, your company could get involved as volunteers or sign up to be a vendor with fun, branded items to give away to attendees. This can increase awareness of your brand and perhaps even earn some goodwill.
3. Get social.
Vacations, sunny days and outdoor gatherings are great times to take that perfect photo. Ask employees to take summer shots and share them on the social networks your business uses. These behind-the-scenes type photos personalize your business and often garner a lot of engagement on social media. Remember to solicit customers for photos, too. This can spark conversations, deepen customer loyalty and increase your organic reach, particularly on Facebook. Also continue to share information on those timely sales and promotions you’re offering!
4. Give your digital marketing campaigns a boost.
Some reports claim that the average cellphone user touches his or her cellphone more than 2,600 times a day – and that behavior doesn’t change during vacation. Although you may be tempted to pull back on digital and social advertising during the summer, this is actually a great time to give those budgets a boost. Your customers will be on their phones, tablets and other electronic devices and have more time to explore your business and your offers.
5. Spruce up your site with SEO.
People depend on web searches to find the business or services they need. If you’re out of town and need an optical shop for an emergency glasses repair, a web search is typically your first step. You may lose opportunities to connect with potential customers if your company’s website isn’t optimized and appears low in search results. A close, critical look at how your site is performing with a website audit like FreshTek can get your website in the best possible position for the final weeks of summer.
It’s easy to slow down marketing tasks over the dog days of summer. But to set the stage for hot autumn sales, it’s important to stay strong on marketing activities throughout the year. Have questions about these five marketing tasks? Contact us here.
