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13 Good Summer Marketing Ideas

The sun is shining, the days are longer, and it’s finally warm enough to enjoy shorts and t-shirts outside. Those are just some of the joys that summer can bring and your marketing efforts can reflect this joy with an emphasis on what tends to be everyone’s favorite season. You don’t have to sell services or items that are specific to the season to enjoy the benefits of these marketing ideas either. As long as you make your theme season-specific, you’ll enjoy better summer revenues too.

It all begins with your commitment to the marketing effort. Seasonal marketing isn’t something that you can just adopt for a couple weeks and then abandon. It has to be a concerted effort that involves pre-promotion efforts, a lengthy implementation period, and then a follow-up period afterward so that you can get feedback from your customer base.

Fun and Creative Summer Marketing Ideas for a Business

1. High Temps? Low Prices
Higher temperatures might make people feel miserable at times, but you can make them feel special with a sale. If temperatures reach 90 degrees, for example, you could offer them $9 off of a $90 purchase. Even though it doesn’t usually rain much in the summer, you could offer rainy day deals that only take place on days that there is measurable precipitation.

2. Take Up All Your Space
Your sidewalk space is undoubtedly an under-utilized advertising option that could bring you a lot of extra attention. Many communities have rules against signage and products on the sidewalk, so find a way that doesn’t interfere with traffic patterns! A great way is to utilize chalk art to promote a sale. Hire a local artist or do it yourself and that promotion will stay there until it rains or you wash it away.

3. Promote Through Social Media
Social media today is about value. What you need to do is provide this value in some way that is unique and meaningful for it to make an impression. Your chalk art is just one way to do this – you could offer people a discount if they like your Facebook page and share your chalk image on their news feed. Any image or post is a chance that your business could go viral.

4. Let the Season Promote Itself
Summertime items are always used and that gives you the chance to increase your brand recognition. Beach towels, frisbees, suntan lotion, and other season-specific items are great giveaways that you can throw into a customer’s shopping bag after they’ve made a qualifying purchase. If you’re an appointment-based service, you can utilize these items to increase the amount of initial appointments that you have too.

5. Get Outside and Be Noticed
Who doesn’t like spending time at the beach? You’ve got samples to hand out, right? Go where the people are and start handing out items with a summertime theme. You’ll enjoy time outside, get to interact with potential customers, and have your brand be noticed with items that can add a little value to someone’s day.

6. Host a Fundraiser
If you’ve got a parking lot, then you’ve got a good place for co-op exposure. Host a fundraiser for a local non-profit or school program out there, like a car wash, so these programs can get some of the extra funding they may need. In return, you’ll have people getting minutes of exposure to your brand in a positive way and here’s the best part: they chose to get the exposure without any pressure from you.

7. Use the Tags
Online searches through social media are easy to do thanks to hashtags, so utilize these in your marketing efforts. Offer people a discount if they’ll post a picture with their purchase on their preferred social media account with specific hashtags. Have them tweet pictures to you if you prefer. You can even offer discounts for specific location shots for your merchandise that can offer ongoing savings.

8. It’s Hot Outside
Value can be as simple as a bottle of water on a hot day. Hand some out with your logo emblazoned boldly on the bottle and you’ll make a fast impact. Remember to encourage recycling.

9. Be Appreciative
Your most loyal customers deserve to be rewarded because they are the best ambassadors for your brand. Treat them to something truly special, like taking them to a local concert with a favorite band or tickets to see a professional sports team. In the US, some of these entertainment costs are 50% deductible on your taxes, so you’ll get something back at the end of the year.

10. Have a Get Together
Nothing speaks of summertime like an afternoon barbecue on a beautiful day. Treat all of your customers to a barbecue that you host and you may just find a few new stragglers coming in to enjoy the party and become exposed to your brand. At the very least, you’ll be building relationships with your current customer base and that creates loyalty.

11. Host a Fun Run
Create your own community event to help build your brand. A fun run is often one of the most engaging events, but unusual events could help take your business into the viral stratosphere. In Central Wisconsin, they have a cow chip throw. What defines your community and how does this relate to your business? Combine the two and you’ll have a fun event.

12. Network Like a Pro
Develop partnerships with businesses outside of your realm of influence that don’t compete and offer packages to customers that include both sets of services or products to enhance the value of your marketing efforts. Both of you will get added exposure and you’ll both benefit from new demographics that you might not have been able to enter before.

13. Custom Sticker Everything
Street marketing with stickers is a cost-effective and simple solution to enhance the exposure your community has to your brand. Kids love stickers too and they’ll plaster them all over their clothing, giving you even more appeal.

Online Marketing Trends for 2014

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