Summer is a great time to get outdoors, take a road trip, or travel with the family. For all these reasons it may not be a great time for your business. But for the many small businesses that slow down during summer it can be a great time to improve and refine digital marketing strategies.
Here are some ideas to help you increase business during your off-season and prepare for busier times including back-to-school, fall season, or holiday.
Note: If your small business is busier during this time of year then check out our previous blog post with tips for a busier summer.
1. Update social media accounts
Slower months provide a great opportunity for small businesses to check-up on their social media pages. Make sure your profile, description, and any links to webpages on Twitter, Facebook, or Instragram are up-to-date and consistent. Also take some time to make sure that you’re using keywords that will best connect with your audience.
2. Review your info on Google
A Google My Business account can be a powerful tool to help drive customers to your store location. If you don’t have an account yet then sign-up for one and start adding your business information. Search users can learn a lot about your business through My Business so make sure to add as much information as possible. This might help attract some customers during the off-season and provide a real boost once fall or holiday season arrives.
Also, summer can be a great time to take photos of your business, including some great exterior and interior shots. These photos can help your business get noticed by more customers searching on Google and on Google Maps.
3. Stay in touch
Just because business is slow doesn’t mean your customers have fallen off the planet. Use your mailing list and social media to reach out to customers. Try to be creative with your content and make it summer-related if possible to make sure it gets noticed. For instance, if you’re a dentist you can send a helpful email to highlight sugary snacks at the campground and the importance of proper dental care while camping.
4. Step back and evaluate business goals
Summer can be a great time to evaluate your business goals. If you established goals at the beginning of the year then summer serves as a midway point and, more importantly, gives you time to fully measure progress and make adjustments as needed. Many small businesses don’t have all of their metrics in one place so make sure you gather all of the data needed to indicate success or shortcomings with your business goals.
What’s working? What can be improved upon? Are your day-to-day activities directly impacting your business goals? Or do you need to adjust or remove activities to increase your focus? Make sure you are honest with your available resources and time. If you need to make adjustments and the data supports it then move forward with confidence!
5. Try some marketing experiments
Once you have evaluated your business goals you should think of new campaigns or activities that you haven’t tried yet. You may already have a few ideas that couldn’t be pursued during busier times. Maybe it’s trying a new social media platform like Instagram or Pinterest. In this case, create a short-term strategy for posting content in the summer and then you can evaluate its effectiveness in the fall once business picks up again.
If you’re already confident in your social media platforms then you can try experimenting with new types of content or posts. Take some time to look at social media accounts of competing businesses or even interesting accounts outside of your industry. This can provide some inspiration for new content as long as it’s consistent with your brand. In other words, maintain your authenticity with customers.
Looking to boost your small business even more? We can help reach more customers during your off-season or build a digital marketing strategy for a stronger fall or holiday season. Check out our digital marketing solutions for small business and see how we can help drive your business goals.