As temperatures rise and days grow longer, it’s tempting to pull back on marketing and conserve energy for the challenges of autumn.
Especially in B2B sectors, the approach of vacation season often leads to wandering thoughts and sales not running at full capacity. According to a study by Sopro.io, globally, two-thirds of B2B companies experience a decline in sales during the summer—identifying July and August as the most challenging months. Nearly 75% of companies reported a sales decrease of 20%, and every fifth company experienced a drop of 40% or more.
Consumers, on the other hand, are most active during the summer, but there is a lot of competition, and buying behaviors and marketing channels shift during the holidays.
Marketing For Brand and Expertise
Maintaining your brand’s visibility year-round is crucial. Even during the quiet seasons, consumers and businesses face a barrage of competitor messaging trying to capture their attention. By staying active, you ensure that your brand remains top-of-mind within your target audience. Continuous presence is key to strengthening your brand recall, helping you stay ahead of competitors when business picks up again.
Some businesses may scale down their marketing during the quieter periods, presenting a golden opportunity to stand out and capture market share. Increasing marketing efforts during the summer can help you gain a larger share of voice and attract new customers who may be more receptive to your message in the absence of competition.
Quiet periods also offer the opportunity to expand your market reach by targeting new demographic groups or geographic areas. You have a better chance to stand out and reach new audiences. Expanding your customer base can help mitigate the risks associated with seasonal fluctuations and ensure a steadier revenue stream throughout the year.
Active marketing also enhances your company’s employer brand. Post-summer, many top talents in your industry will be looking for new career directions—wouldn’t you want to be at the forefront of these candidates’ minds?
Cherish Relationships with Followers and Old Customers
During the summer, you might let go of excessive formality and have some fun! How about a summer contest, or sharing summery pictures from a dock or company summer parties?
Quiet periods provide an opportunity to deepen connections with customers and prospects through targeted actions. Whether through newsletters, social media interactions, or web content, staying connected with your audience helps build trust, loyalty, and long-lasting relationships that extend well beyond the summer months, reflecting in customer retention and upselling.
Besides marketing, an important part of the customer experience is communication. Remember to communicate clearly how your business operations work throughout the summer and where they can get service if needed.
It’s also important to prepare for the upcoming busier season. By maintaining your marketing momentum during quieter times, you can lay the groundwork for future campaigns, build anticipation, and spark interest in upcoming offers. An active approach ensures you are ready for battle when business picks up again.
10 Things to Do When You Have More Time:
- Plan and update your content calendar.
- Fill time-dependent events that you can leverage in your marketing, such as important company dates, annual meetings, birthday celebrations, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day.
- Remember less well-known days like Entrepreneur’s Day, tax refund day, or World Cinnamon Roll Day.
- Note major industry fairs and events.
- Benchmark organic content from familiar social media accounts throughout the year, and see what content others have created in different years.
- Create goal-based marketing campaigns. Schedule time for analytics and monitoring.
- Brainstorm with your team on what content formats and topics you want to utilize.
2. Produce content in advance for social media, newsletters, and the web. Schedule as much as possible.
3. Master new marketing techniques, such as newsletter automations, display or native advertising.
4. Improve the copywriting on your website and its search engine and user-friendliness.
5. Analyze early-year results in sales, social media, and online.
6. Since people spend more time on social media in the summer, offer extra value, for example by responding to followers’ questions or organizing an event.
7. Learn something new. Take marketing/communication courses or master a new technology.
8. Network on social media.
9. Create digital materials as added value for current and new customers, such as a downloadable e-book.
10. Measure the market and your customers’ satisfaction with surveys, the results of which you can use throughout the year.
Explore our service. Here you can read examples of tasks and content that you can delegate to Smoothly’s content producers. We also offer you a 3-month trial period with a satisfaction guarantee – no commitment required.
Frequently Asked Questions. Here you can find comprehensive answers to your questions, or you can contact us directly.
Hundreds of marketers already utilize Smoothly’s digital service platform to support their marketing. Try content production and marketing routine delegation flexibly without a notice period!