When the temperatures begin to increase, you can count on the bulk of your customer base to be spending a lot of time outdoors, in parks, on the water, in pools and even on vacations. If your business is not based on summer tourism or another retail market that caters to outdoor activities and summer season offerings, you may notice a downturn this time of year. Here are some sales strategies you may want to consider for your summer marketing plan:
Carve Out A Summer Message For Your Customer Base
If you have a business that has any bearing on the summer season, try to hone in on a message that will resonate with your customer base. If you offer any product that will benefit your customers during the warmer months, try to come up with a way to positively promote that product specifically for this time of year. Use some fun messaging techniques to get this message across. Use placards in front of your store with a funny message inviting customers in out of the heat. Bring your inner artist out to draw summer discount messages on your glass windows. Use your social media platforms to generate some buzz around how your business/product can make summer even better.
Summer Sales Strategies: Think Outside The Box
Summer time provides a prime time to run some great sales to draw in your customers, especially if your product or service is not clearly tied to warm weather. Look around your community to see if there is a way to tie your sales to events that are going on during the summer. Help sponsor a little league soccer team and provide a discount for their families for every point they score in a game. You can also link to one of the summer movie blockbusters and develop a campaign that offers a discount with a valid ticket stub. Be sure to share about all of your sales on social media as well as at your location.
Create Buzz
Summer is a fun time of year, so what better time to create some buzz about your business? Contests are a great way to do this. You can provide a giveaway of a certain amount of your product or service when people sign up on your social media platforms or inside your store. The prize does not have to be huge. If you are an ice cream store, offer a chance for a free banana split for those who share about you on Twitter. Do this several times during the summer and you will have generated quite a bit of buzz about your business.
If you want to get even more leads, consider giving away chance for a sizable prize in exchange for a purchase over a certain amount. You can also tie in a big sports event held in the summer, such as the NBA Finals. Rig up a small basketball hoop and let your customers try to make a basket whenever they purchase an item. If they make the basket, give them a coupon for their next purchase.
The hot months of summer are a fantastic time to let loose and implement some fun summer sales strategies. Use bright and cheery colors and text in your advertising to help draw customers to your business and continue the theme inside so customers enjoy their experience and will want to tell others about your business.