It’s midsummer: a perfect 75 °F, the cumulus clouds drift above, and perfect time to dip your pedicured toes into the pool – but wait! How is business going? How are sales? Is it a slow month? Do you have a marketing funnel in place? There are a lot of things that are great about summer. Picnics on the beach, swimming in a refreshing pool and sweet summer nights are things we love during the hot summer months. But, unless you are the ice cream man, business can feel slow.  Despite what you may think, Summer is great for marketing your brand. We strongly encourage our clients to do a summer review for turning up the heat on their summer marketing efforts! It is entirely possibly to luxuriate in the season, all while business moves along swiftly. Here are few tips:

The ‘Summer Slump’ Plan of Action

Forbes magazine notes that “more than two-thirds of small business owners [see] dips during the summer… Some 67 [percent] of the 2,000 firms surveyed [saw] mounting concerns about the ‘summer slump’ phenomenon.” In fact, much like schoolchildren, business owners and businesses suffer from slacking during the holidays. By the time the owners return to their computers, they amass stress from drops in productivity, growth, and the ROI. However, business strategists can help you mitigate this by having a clear strategy and action plan in place! This is an opportune time to create some fresh content, revisit your marketing strategy and attract new followers.

You will want to start with doing an inventory of the current content that you have. Can it be updated and repurposed to have more a summer focus? Which blogs and posts are most popular and create the most engagement? What promotional events can you plan some campaigns around? (4th of July, Father’s Day, Back To School)

You get the idea. Having a plan in place will help alleviate the stress and allow you to actually enjoy summer. Our Summer Guidebook takes you through the questions to ask yourself when preparing your plan.

How Only 6 Hours Makes A Difference

According to The Social Media Examiner, “By spending as little as six hours per week, 66% of marketers see lead generations with social media.” In other words, very little media maintenance is necessary to drum up some business. We suggest a behind-the-scenes video look at your business since it’s not peak season. There’s more time to focus upon ironing out that old website, or getting your Facebook Live broadcasting, as we point out in our summer guidebook. With only six hours of online marketing, you still have time to swing by that barbecue and the flamingo-themed pool party. Not sure what to post or what content to create? Join our Outlier Social group through the summer and get the accountability and real time feedback you need to create content that will attract those new followers.

Gain Some Competitive Advantage

The last hidden beauty of a summer slump is that the competition is likely off-duty. While you’re posting a summer promotion, they’re growing anxious about what sales will look like in August!  You are gaining some competitive advantage while they are snoozing. Even if you are taking a break from the online space, you can still be moving the needle forward on your business. It’s a great time to brush up your skills. Could your content creation and social media skills use some polishing and tweaking? Want to set up a sales funnel that is ready to launch in Fall? Want to improve your storytelling ability? Need to learn some techy skills? Need to find more balance? Find a course or group that will improve your business and/or life. We meet with our clients twice a month over the summer to help them create lead magnets, blogs, social media posts, email campaigns and more. They also learn cool ninja tips and get real time training from experts such as copywriters, graphic designer and social media experts.

To create your summer marketing strategy, download our summer guidebook.