How to heat up your marketing to match summer temperatures.
Summer is a fun time for most people. They’re so busy enjoying the outdoors, TV ratings and Internet usage drop at least 15 percent.
Barbecues, baseball, boating and outdoor parties all make it hard to get their attention to make retail sales. So your marketing must be equal to the task with unique ways to increase sales.
Heat up your marketing events to match the hot temperatures.
Here are 14 ideas:
1. Hold a contest honoring local radio personalities
Let’s say your target audience is young adults, 18 to 34. Identify the radio stations in your market that play your target demographics’ favorite music. For stations targeting young adults, summertime ratings are the highest of the year – offering you a magical opportunity.
Your radio-format choices probably range from contemporary hit radio (a rock music format that plays the current best-selling hits) — to country — to urban contemporary playing a high-rotation mix of modern hip-hop, R&B, or dance track:
— Poll your staff and customers to vote on your community’s “hottest” radio personalities at top-rated stations with fun DJs in both morning and afternoon drive-time.
— Notify the winning DJs.
— Invite creative employees or hire aspiring comedians to write a short song with rhyme or puns.
— Tell the DJs, their producers or the station’s program director that a couple of your representatives would like to visit their shows with a short, fun presentation such as a quick song, and a fun plaque with a bouquet of flowers.
— If you keep it fun and short, you’ll be rewarded with three minutes of free PR.
Even if you have an older target audience, you can still do this promotion on talk radio. Radio personalities are likeable hams and they appreciate attention.
It’s true. I have insider knowledge about broadcasting with 20+ years on-air experience before my consulting practice. Disc jockeys, including the legendary Robert_W._Morgan, eagerly responded. During the on-air promotion, he said “it’s the best honor I’ve ever received.”
The three-minute formula resulted in thousands of dollars in free PR multiple times in large markets: Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
The three-minute formula resulted in thousands of dollars in free PR multiple times in large markets: Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
Incidentally, retail sales can be slow in February, too. Valentine’s Day is a perfect occasion to stage a promotion for the “most lovable” DJ.
2. Leverage the news media
Start dreaming up promotion ideas. Ever wonder why some companies are always in the news or how they succeed on the Internet? It’s a good bet they have a good PR consultant or they have mastered the art of press releases. You can level the playing field with strategic press releases.
Bone up on strategies to leverage the news media.
3. Create summer specials
Think about products or services that are applicable only for the summer. Offer the deals only in the summer. Hopefully, you’ll create an annual tradition for which your customers look forward.
4. Promotional giveaways
Hand out seasonal items unique for summer weather. For a “customer appreciation day” interact with your customers, for example, with free sunglasses or towels for the pool or beach. Free, refreshing bottled drinks also work.
If you are ambitious-enough for a parking-lot barbecue, talk well in advance with your local health department.
5. Create strategic partnerships
For instance, summertime is the time to enjoy road trips. It’s why I’ve partnered my credit-union clients with car-dealer clients for private parking lot sales. The credit unions didn’t have to pay for broadcast advertising. Instead, the credit unions notified their members via letters, emails and in-house posters to attend Saturday sales in their parking lots.
Credit-union/car sales are perfect for both the financial institutions and car dealers. Financial institutions have to put their assets to work to make money — by loaning money and charging interest to offset the interest they’re paying to savings account depositors. Otherwise, financial institutions suffer from red ink, and you know what car dealers need to do.
6. Sponsor events
Hold events that can boost your brand. Pick one that will highlight your participation and will help enhance your community-service image.
Pick one that will highlight your participation and will help enhance your community-service image.
If you live in a region with a substantial number of environmentally minded consumers, sponsor a green event as you take precautions to brand your business as green.
7. Take some of your products outside
Consumers always seem to notice sidewalk or parking-lot activity and signage. Make your outside sale inviting – to attract attention and be persuasive for consumers to stay for a while — to make purchases.
8. Align with a credible charity that’s a natural for your business
Customers love community-minded businesses. You can rest assured that cause-related marketing can increase your sales by double digits. Cause-related marketing is one of my favorite recommendations.
You have choices:
— Keeping in mind the typical profile of your most-desired customer, and pick a charity to help. Ask the charity’s executive director to suggest past events that raised the most money.
— If you think you have a more novel idea, suggest it instead. Then, host a charity event at your location (s).
— In your advertising, promise to dedicate a percentage or fixed-dollar amount for every product customers buy.
— You can also serve as the host of a charitable event, but beware many in the audience might consider it grandstanding on your part, especially if your on-stage appearance takes more than 30 seconds.
9. Align with pet organizations and services
For example in the Pacific Northwest, Coastal Farm & Ranch helps its countless customers who own pets and farm animals.
Some of its 22 stores provides weekly parking lot space for the mobile Good Neighbor Veterinan Clinic to provide low-cost vaccinations, microchipping, and basic wellness exams with no office visit fee.
10. Stage a customer-appreciation event
For example, you can have a special barbecue for customers (again, get advance approval from the health department). Or, for families hold a carnival event or buy a block of tickets for a baseball game.
Make it a memorable time so customers have lasting memories for repeat buying.
Make it a memorable time so customers have lasting memories for repeat buying.
11. Align a hot sale with the temperature
Use hot summer temperatures to your advantage with cool (discounted) pricing. For instance, publicize that you’ll give a nice discount on days when the temperature climbs to a specified hot temperature.
12. How-to demonstrations on weekends
On weekends, most consumers don’t leave the house until noon. Organize and publicize how-to demonstrations that will start at 9 or 10 a.m. That’s to get sales started early in the morning.
Suggest to your customers that they bring friends. Then, give discounts on the products that are part of the demonstration.
Heavily promote your events. Consider no-obligation enter-to-win contests.
13. Leverage social media
By now, you probably know all about creating a social-media presence. But did you know there are 11 ways to make money on Facebook?
But it might surprise you to know why marketers increasingly are using Instagram?
Marketing Tips from Best Brands that Use Instagram
14. Commission mobile apps
Make sure you have a mobile-friendly Web site. Consumers now prefer to use their mobile phones to search the Internet. If not, get started. Businesses are increasingly using mobile apps to sell products.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are related strategies:
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Checklist to Build Your Brand on a Budget — Every business needs to save time and money while increasing revenue with affordable branding techniques. Here are 29 proven branding solutions for maximum profits.
Trending Essentials to Win Millennials’ Brand Loyalty — How do Millennial consumers — ages 18 to 33 — view brands? What’s necessary to win their brand loyalty? The answers to these questions are important because Millennials have $600 billion to spend. If you win them over now — depending on your goods, services and industry — you might also create customers for decades to come.
“People are always going to go shopping. A lot of our effort is just: ‘How do we make the retail experience a great one?’”
-Philip Green
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