Summer’s great right? Lazy beach days, ice cool drinks … that summer soundtrack you can’t stop listening too! Summer is awesome but from a marketing perspective it can be a bit of a dead duck. Many potential clients are on vacation and not checking emails whilst others feel they don’t want to talk business in August. If you are in a hot region then you may also find that there is an air of laziness too… zzzzz! So with that, here are 3 sizzling summer marketing campaigns to get your target audience energised!
1. Facebook photo/video contest
If your target audience is having fun then why are you not joining them? A Facebook photo or video contest could be just the thing you need to grab social media attention and create a fun Call To Action (CTA). If you have a shop or product then encourage fans to send in a photo or video of themselves enjoying your product or visiting your location. Maybe add a summer theme – for example
“Send us a photo of you enjoying our ice cream – the most summery photo wins a voucher”
By getting your fans to vote on their favourite photo you are creating excellent interaction, encouraging virality through sharing, boosting brand awareness and probably gaining some new clients.
2. Create a summer sweepstake
This one will depend on the budget of your brand but go for a really attractive summer giveaway. Prizes could range from a free holiday, weekend in a luxury hotel or an all inclusive boat trip. Ask the public to enter a quiz via one of your online apps so that you can capture their details as they enter. This is a great way to build your mailing list the legal way and continue to market to potential customers. It also gives you a great opportunity to create some hype around your brand with fabulous summery graphics, a company news announcement to promote the draw and of course follow up photos of the winner. If you are really smart you could make a connection with the hotel or boat chain so that in fact you are not even paying for the prize – for example
“Charli Says in association with Blu Cruises is giving away a luxury all inclusive boat trip for four people”
Many companies will be happy to cooperate with you on the understanding that you will handle the promotion. My experience shows that in these instances, each company’s ROI increases as a result of cross-marketing.
3. Summer rewards card
Wake up your sleepy summer audience with a special card to reward their loyalty. A physical card could be used or if your product is online then you could add a code to your checkout. For example:
“Buy 5 summer smoothies and get the 6th free”
or
“Spend $200 online in August and get a free prize”
Add a time limit to the offer to create a sense of urgency and to incentivise a higher than usual spend from each client. The summer rewards card can be adapted to suit a variety of industries and situations… you just have to be creative! Be sure to promote the cars in store, on your website and via your social media channels.
So you see, summer doesn’t have to be a marketing dead zone! Try these 3 Sizzling Summer Marketing Campaigns and get ready for a great month. Tweet me @Charli_Says and let me know which summer marketing campaign you will try!