Some industries and brands see a drastic decline in sales activity during the summer. This is in part to your customers either jetting off to a fun vacation destination or preparing for higher expenses at the start of the new fiscal year.
This summer slump can severely impact your business’ profits, especially if you do not take the steps through your marketing strategy. As a result, you may find yourself scrambling to make up for lost profits. To avoid this scramble, here are seven tips to help you fight the summer slowdown!
- Entice your Customers with Promos and Special Offers
Focus on timely, sales-driven marketing. No business owner wants to cheapen their brand, but the summer months can be detrimental to overall sales. To entice customers to purchase from your brand, try offering promotions or special offers on older products, especially during July and August. You could also host an “anniversary event” with special offers to boost summer sales.
- Fish Where Your Customers Are
Instead of focusing on SEO marketing, shift your focus to social media marketing campaigns. Over the summer, most people go on vacation, whether that is by themselves, with family, or with friends. When on vacation, people post on social media, so use engaging summer visuals and cast your line to consumers on vacation.
The news never stops, not even for summer vacation. Associating your brand with a current event - creatively responding to a breaking story, curating industry news, or taking a stand about a hot topic - can keep your content relevant.
- Partner with Another Business
Another way to beat the summer slowdown is partnering with another business. You can consider partnering with a travel business or a local tour guide business for those customers interested in leaving town or visiting your area. Not only will both parties’ sales be boosted, but you can also reach a different audience.
- Create a Referral Program
Utilize your existing great relationships with customers to gain more business. Providing incentives to your current customers for referring business to your company is a great way to generate customer buzz. You can offer a gift, discount, or freebie. An added benefit is using this word-of-mouth marketing opportunity to generate customer-created content that you can use across multiple platforms.
- Engage With Your Audience With Games
The best season to bring out the child in everyone is summer! Launching a few games through email or on your social media can keep your customers engaged with fun, lighthearted content. Here are some fun social game ideas:
- Word Scramble - post scrambled words about your brand and ask your followers to unscramble them.
- Guess the Location - have your staff post photos on the company’s social media and ask your followers to guess where they are.
- Caption Contest - post a fun photo of your business, staff, or products and ask your followers to create a caption.
As a business owner, you set the attitude for your employees, who will then take that attitude to your customers. Keeping a positive outlook throughout the summer can reduce the possibility of a summer slowdown. There’s no need to spend a fortune boosting your team’s spirit, you can beat the summer slump by offering fun summer incentives to keep their spirits high.
Remember that a significant portion of your content will be consumed on mobile devices while your customers are enjoying the summer sun. This makes it especially important to make your posts engaging and concise. While summer sales figures tend to be historically low, it doesn’t mean your business profits have to suffer. By following the tips above, you can maintain your sales numbers regardless of how high the temperature rises.
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