10 Marketing Ideas to Help Your Small Business Get Ready for Summer
Now is the perfect time of the year to get your small business ready for the summer. Don’t do like most businesses that wait until the very last minute when summer is already among us to start getting everything ready for a boost of sales. With enough time ahead you’ll be more prepared and less stressed out during a time of the year where you should be more focused on making money than getting a strategic marketing plan put together.
Here are 10 fun, new ways to market your business this summer
1. Create a Business Partnership
Partner up with one or several local businesses who are complimentary to your target audience or customer base, and develop a package that suits you both. Whether it’s a theater, restaurant, or hotel, you can create a relevant package that your customer could benefit from…for example you could create a romantic weekend package, that allows all of you to cross promote each other. Essentially, you would all market and sell the package, and in the end all three businesses would split the proceeds.
2. Sidewalk Misters
Rexburg can get pretty warm in the summer and people love to gather at the park with the kids. Venture out into one of the many parks in the area, armed with a backpack/spray nozzle water mister, and offer to cool off passerby. This is a great opportunity to talk to people, so be sure to wear branded apparel with your company logo, shirts and have some brochures and flyers to pass along.
3. Stickers
Rexburg loves the outdoors and everyone loves cool stickers. Summer is the perfect time to craft a fun and unique design to reach your target audience. Locate outdoor areas and have fun giving away cool colorful stickers that help your brand be noticed and gain recognition.
4. Festival Contest
Rexburg also loves festivals, parades and live events. Rent a booth during these fun times and run a contest that collects contact information in return for a chance to win a prize. Follow up with customers once the festival is over with special promotions for your products and services.
5. Hot Spot Banners
Identify summer hot spots around town where people like to hang out: pools, attractions, high traffic areas, etc. then strategically place large format vinyl banners that promote your products and services. You’ll be able to maximize your exposure with minimal investment.
6. Hot weather promotional items
Summer is the perfect time to invest in promotional items, especially: coolie cups, fans, water bottles and other promo items. Give them away to anyone who enters your store, office or restaurant on a hot day.
7. Run temperature-related discounts
If you want to make a hot day a fun day for business, then you must use this one. Launch a fun campaign that gets customers in the door, by offering a discount based on how high the temperature climbs. You’ll be able to land some sales on a day that people would otherwise stay indoors. Of course, make sure your location is air-conditioned to keep them inside longer.
8. Go to lunch
Take your best customer out to lunch during the summer to reinforce your business relationships, foster customer loyalty, and discuss information that can help you improve your company and customer satisfaction. Your customers will appreciate the gesture.
9. Community service
Organize a litter pick up day and invire the community to pitch in. Recruit volunteers and let the media know what you’re planning to do and in return you’ll receive some great PR for contributing and organizing a great cause.
10. Have fun with holidays
The summer months have lots of great kind of wacky holidays that present great opportunities for doing some fun and creative ways to market. For example: June is candy month, July is national anti-bordem month and August is National Golf Month. Think you can create some attention-grabbing marketing campaigns for these holidays?
What other creative marketing ideas do you have for this summer? Share them in the comments!