Summer is right around the corner, and for businesses, that usually means that you may encounter, what is known as, the summer slowdown. While kids are out of school and people start to take more vacations, your local business, could experience a slump. This is normal, as summer is a notoriously slow time for business, so you should plan ahead. We are going to take a look at some ways you can engage your customers this summer to combat the drop in sales and try to avoid the decline.
Tips to Engage your Customers this Summer
With kids being home, people traveling around, and in general, routines being very different, the warmer months of the year, can cause your customers to forget about you for a few months and lead to a drop in your visitors and sales. As we mentioned above, this is rather normal. The summer distracts your customers with new things, and their regular routines are interrupted.
There are some things you can do to keep your customers engaged this summer. We review a few tips below.
- Have Marketing that Relates to the Current Season: When the season’s change, in the summer, just like throughout the holidays, you should embrace the current events. Change your marketing, blog topics, social media posts, etc. to relate to the season you are in. In the summer, people tend to be more casual, so adapt your messaging and advertising for that.
- Offer Specials: When you know a slow season or time period is coming, think about having special offers that attract your current and new customers to your business. Have a once a year summer sale, end of year clean out, have customers enter for a chance to win a vacation, or whatever else you can think of. The key is doing something that will get you business, even during the summer slowdown.
- Stay in Front of Your Customers in the Places they are: When the weather gets warmer, people hit the road and are on the go much more. Analyze your current marketing efforts and adjust to stay in front of your ideal audience. When people are on vacation, they post on social media more often, so social media marketing can go a lot farther during this time of the year. Also think about advertising with Out-of-home advertising. People are on the go, and your advertising should be as well.
- Attract New Customers: As people travel and explore new places, your business could be the solution to their problem in the new place they are at. Be found by people who are visiting your area and take this opportunity to grow your customer base. Ensure you have local landing pages and marketing, so new customers can find you. Nearly 50% of all Google searches are by people looking for local businesses and information. 97% of people learn more about a local company online than any other medium.
- Reach out to Existing Customers: Use this slower time of the year to reach out to your customers and connect with them. Not only will this help to improve your relationship with them in the future, this will remind them that you are there when they need you, which could be right then. This can help you battle the summer slowdown, all while setting your business up for future success and long-term customers.
- Ensure your Website is Optimized for Mobile: While people may not be in front of their computers as much, in the warmer months, one thing they will not typically leave behind, are their phones. Throughout the year, mobile accounts for nearly 2 of every 3 minutes spent online; in the summer months, that number is sure to be higher. It’s important that you have a website that is optimized for mobile, so people can find your business and website and functionally navigate it from their phones. If your website is not ready for mobile, you could lose a lot of business.
While the above focuses on ways you can engage your customers this summer to avoid a summer slump, you should adjust your marketing and advertising efforts all year round to be where your audience is. One solution is usually not the answer. Your customers typically all use different methods to find you, and you need to be aware of that, and where they are looking.
At Water Bear Marketing we offer a variety of advertising solutions to ensure you are always able to reach your ideal audience. Our proprietary technology helps us proactively make adjustments to help you get the best results we can deliver. Water Bear Marketing uses our Advertising With Intelligence® technology to intelligently advertise for our clients, based upon their lead goals, while leveraging our proprietary technology. We can, and will, adjust your advertising efforts, as needed.
Summer should be the time of year for sunshine, rainbows, and relaxation, don’t let the summertime slump impact your business. Water Bear Marketing is here to help. Contact us for a free consultation today.