Marketing During the Off-season
We’re now approaching the time of year when lots of people take their holidays. They forget about their usual commitments and relax for a few weeks. It’s traditionally a quiet time for many businesses.
Summer means the year is about half done which is a perfect time to update your marketing plan.
But are there advantages of continuing your marketing efforts during this time?
Most definitely!
Spend some time considering the best way to attract customers and increase sales over the summer months. Why not pick up extra sales now so you aren’t so pressured toward year end?
Stay Social Year-round
Your customers don’t vanish during the off-season. It’s important to stay in contact with leads and past customers throughout the entire year. Consider social media your virtual, year-round storefront. Even if your audience isn’t right outside your store or visiting your website, they are certainly perusing their social media feeds.
Your business should consider leveraging Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other online social outlets to stay top of mind year-round. You should be using these platforms to offer special discounts, gather reviews and testimonials, share the new content you’re publishing, run contests and polls, and generate hype for the next season.
Remember, people are planning ahead earlier than ever nowadays for purchases, trips, and vacations. If you’re in front of people’s eyes months in advance, you could be the one who sparks their interest.
Find Ways to Stand Out Within a Niche Market
In order to keep things steady during your slower months, consider focusing on a niche market with whom your products or services could be a huge benefit. For example, if you run a pastry business that experiences frequent highs and lows throughout the year, try marketing yourself to a gluten-free or sugar-free crowd. Specializing within these markets will give you an edge many competitors may not leverage, making you the stand-out business in your industry and giving that niche market even more reason to come and see you.
This doesn’t mean you start marketing yourself as a source of sugar- and gluten-free products exclusively, but it does mean you start blogging about some of the tricks of the trade, sharing social media updates with pictures of delicious sugar-and gluten-free treats, pinning pictures of custom cakes you’ve done for customers with special dietary needs, and emailing special offers for people with gluten- and sugar-free diets to come in for a special tasting event.
Improve Your Marketing During The Summer
Take the time to update your website.
It’s important to make sure that your website is current and that it’s talking about things you’re promoting in your business now, so when people decide to research your business online, they are getting accurate information.
This can be as simple as creating a “what’s new” section on the home page and keeping it current. If you haven’t updated your site in a while, you may want to review all of the content and make sure it’s still applicable to your current business offerings and target audience.
Improve your search engine ranking.
Think about what you want the visitor to do once they’re on your site, and make that clear and easy to do.
Refreshing your website content and improving your headlines and title tags with the help of search engine optimization, can greatly improve your rankings. When search engine rankings improve, you can get more clients. At the very least this will help your business get much better exposure, offering a higher chance of turning potential clients into new paying clients.
Summer Strategies
- Summer Sales – Sales are usually tight during the summer which means competitive pricing and deals are more important. Running promotions or sales events that promote Canada Day, Memorial Day and other large events are important.
- Video Marketing – Video is still one of the fastest ways to get your product in front of the most sets of eyes. Viral video content needs to stand out, be engaging and well researched, and be attention grabbing.
- Hold a Themed Event – The great thing about summer is that warmer weather encourages people to get out and have fun. Why not turn that into an opportunity? You can combine an outdoor event with promotions or an opportunity to pass out free samples.
- Social Media Events – People are connected now more than ever. Use that to your advantage by launching social media events such as sales and product promotions. Use videos, images, and captivating visual content to keep your posts interesting and relevant. Make sure to cross-promote social content between all of your outlets to try and increase your reach.
- Blog – If you don’t have one, start one. A blog fits perfectly into any ad campaign and works well if you plan on getting more social because it gives you one more thing to offer to people. In addition, you can ask people to guest blog to help extend your reach to their circles. Using people in your industry or a similar one can help you push your presence into new territories.
While it might be nice to take the summer off, for most, it is just not a practical idea. When you get a jump on marketing at the beginning of the season, it makes it easier to relax so you aren’t worrying about the end of the year before the end of summer.
Get ready to capitalize during busier times. Keep the momentum going in your business all year long.
For tips and helpful online summer marketing solutions, contact Ancell Marketing at 778 285 2288.