SUMMER IS A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR MARKETERS.

Summer is often referred to as silly season for marketers. People are on holiday so there’s generally less people around to speak to. With Parliament in recess, the media world also slows down. This impacts on marketers because there’s content on websites, which generally means less traffic and less eyes on digital marketing.

So, instead of twiddling your thumbs, here’s our guide to keep your marketing motivation through the summer season.

Take stock

The summer can be a great time to take stock in-house. Have a look at your offline communications, website, social media and/or content marketing. Consider what you could be doing differently with the gift of a bit of time. Fill up those social media and blogging schedules. Get writing a bank of content which you can turn to when things get busy again. If time allows, you could dig a little bit deeper in your marketing. Maybe it’s time for an audit of your SEO, a brand refresh or to review your PPC accounts.

It is so easy for a brand to lose its freshness or relevancy over time or to keep in touch with what its audiences want at that place and time. Nothing stands still in marketing and putting some time aside to review activity and maybe try something new could be just what your company needs to stay ahead of the competition. Some of these tasks may take a reasonable amount of time to look after in-house so consider outsourcing or working in partnership with an agency to brighten everything up.

Search for opportunities

Things may be quieter in the silly season but the world doesn’t stand still. Marketing opportunities still exist if you look for them. Last year’s World Cup was capitalised on by most companies under the sun in one way or another. Some were blatant and involved partnerships with players or as official sponsors. Others, like Ikea were a little bit more subtle in getting a slice of the action. Wimbledon is also often a great tactic for marketing for companies, particularly in the food and drink sector.

The summer obviously provides opportunities aplenty for the travel and leisure sector by reaching out to people searching for last minute holidays or day trips out. Even if you have exhausted your own channels promoting your summer events or activities, there’s still plenty of ways to increase awareness, footfall and sales. Digital marketing provides a quick and simple way to target the right people. Various apps and websites also market events to people looking for fun in the sun. So, consider offering your venue with special offers or discounted rates to help stand out in the crowd.

Get in the great outdoors

The weather has been seriously unpredictable so far this summer but it is still worth considering some outdoor activity to attract new customers. Would a pop-up shop work for your business? Could you distribute leaflets somewhere? Could you run an event or have a stall at a local event? Consider where you may find some more of your target customers out there in the real world and get yourself to them, along with some new flyers to hand out too.

Take a camera with you or consider hiring a professional photographer. The summer also provides a great opportunity to update your corporate photography in the best possible light.

Keep it social

Social media can be incredibly unpredictable during the summer months. Broadly speaking, corporate accounts may see their statistics slowing down for a few weeks. Others, however, may experience a surge due to people Instagramming their barbeques and beach days. If your business could tap into that, which could cover everything from outdoor furniture to travel apps, then do so. There’s some top tips on making the most of social media in 2019 here. Also, get your website performing the best that it possibly can be and ensure it is mobile friendly so people on the move still have a great experience with your brand.

Theme Group’s team of digital and creative experts can get your design, creative and marketing in order no matter the time of year. Contact us to find out more.