For most businesses that are trying to grow and meet sales goals, July is a huge hurdle. Fewer people are spending their money on your business, and more are spending their money on vacations. July is the month we see many of our clients experience a significant drop in website traffic, lead generation, and customer engagement. Not because of lost rankings or a failed SEO campaign, but because fewer people are searching for their services.
Your Customer’s Search Habits Change In The Summer
When people are on vacation, they aren’t doing Google searches for your B2B business like they would in the office. This is your chance to show up to them where they are. People search for products and services changes from their usual habits when they travel, spend time outside, and change their routine. So you have to change your marketing strategy to reach them.
Correct Your Summer Marketing To Target Your Audience
This does not mean your marketing is no longer working. Your SEO marketing campaigns are still working hard at growing your business. Your PPC ads are still showing up at the top of the search. What this means is that your audience is behaving differently.
Businesses need to change their approach. Hit customers where they are, and don’t wait until fall to market. For B2B businesses, the summer is a great opportunity to reach your customer with hyper-targeted marketing. You will build stronger client relationships in a month where most businesses miss the opportunity. Targeting your customers where they are at during the summer will lead to a successful second half of the year.
5 Ways To Effectively Market Your Business In The Summer
These five tactics might help you market your business in July:
1. Increase Your Presence On Social Media
People tend to spend more time on their favorite social media sites and less time on Google searches in the summer. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other platforms are used a lot while people are on vacation or outside of work.
The summer is the perfect time for B2C businesses to strengthen their social media presence. Instead of waiting for customers to find you create content on the platforms people are frequenting more during the summer.
On social media, try to share more:
- Short videos
- Behind the scenes
- Customer success stories
- Seasonal specials
- Product presentations
- The culture of your business
It’s more than merely increasing the number of postings. Each piece of content has to be worthwhile. Inform, entertain, or inspire your audience.
And when search demand eventually wanes, paid social media advertising will help keep your firm front of mind. Familiarity influences future decisions, so being seen more often is better when customers are not ready to buy yet.
2. Focus On Building Brand Recognition
July is not typically a good month for a lot of B2B organizations to get many leads. Decision-makers could be on the road, working less, or deferring purchases until after their holiday.
Summer is the perfect time to focus on boosting brand awareness, not just tracking the amount of form submissions or phone calls you receive.
Regularly publishing useful material keeps your company in the eyes of potential customers and promotes it as a trusted source. Think about making:
- Educational articles
- Industry analysis
- Presentations of project case studies
- Company news
- FAQ
- Educational films
Another alternative for brands is impression-based advertising campaigns that focus on visibility, not speedy conversions. All these activities always keep you at the forefront of the thoughts of prospective clients so that when they’re ready to buy, they already know about your firm.
Brand familiarity generally has long-term advantages, especially for organizations with longer sales cycles.
3. Keep The Relationship Alive With An Email Campaign
Even if website traffic drops down in the summer, email remains one of the best ways to speak directly to your audience.
Most customers merely move their calendars around instead of leaving for the full month. A lot of people check their email regularly or catch up on their inbox when they return to work from vacation.
Many businesses dial down their email marketing efforts throughout the summer, which might be a missed opportunity since there’s less competition for attention.
Depending on your readership, your emails might include the following for B2C businesses:
- Seasonal sales
- Summertime items or services
- Deals within a time constraint
- Event reminder
- Tips to help you make it through the season
For B2B:
- Teaching Materials
- Trends in the industry
You could include things like:
- Planning manuals
- Midyear business insights
Rather than sending out promotional blasts, consider delivering valuable information that addresses a problem or helps customers prepare for an upcoming event. People read, share, and remember important emails.
4. Try Influencer Marketing
If you’ve been considering doing influencer marketing, summer is a great time to do it.
July is a prime month for influencer collaborations since consumers are more likely to consume social media content while they’re vacationing, relaxing, or taking time off.
You don’t need to work with superstars or musicians with millions of followers. Companies tend to have better results when working with micro-influencers with highly engaged audiences in a specific niche or local community.
When looking for potential influencers, don’t only look at the number of followers. Instead, think about:
- Audience demographics
- Engagement rates
- Geography
- Quality of content
- Brand fit
- Truthfulness
A good match could open your organization up to entire new audiences and create considerable engagement that traditional advertising would not be able to give.
5. Reassess Your Marketing In the Offseason
Sometimes a better marketing technique than starting a new campaign is to look back on what has been effective in a past month.
July is the middle of the year and a great time to review how your marketing strategy has performed in the first half.
Metrics to think about include:
- Lead generation
- Site visits
- Conversion rates
- Advertisement performance
- Cost of gaining a customer
- Increase in revenue
- Marketing return on investment (ROI)
Look for trends in the data. Which marketing generated quality leads? Which pages were getting traffic but not converting? Where did you get the most bang for your buck when it came to advertising?
Areas of improvement to impliment include:
- Landing pages optimization
- Changes to advertising budget
- Rewrite your SEO approach
- Plan more aggressive ads for late summer and fall
Entrepreneurs may also use the time to go through larger strategic concerns and to see if marketing efforts are consistent with overall business goals. Your customers are still there, but they are behaving differently.
Your business shouldn’t have to cease promoting just because July was slow. “Even if they’re traveling or spending less time in their offices, consumers are still consuming content, checking email, browsing social media, and finding the companies that stand out.
Companies that continue to expand over the summer tend to enter the fall with greater momentum than those that merely wait for business to get up again.
Every move you make today helps set your business up for success in the months ahead, whether you’re investing in social media, growing brand awareness, nurturing customers via email, investigating influencer relationships, or reviewing your marketing success.
Connect With Wes Web To Enhance The Digital Marketing Of Your Business
Continue to build your marketing with Wes Web You don’t have to face your company’s summer slump alone. At Wes Web, we help organizations build digital marketing strategies that provide results 365 days a year. SEO and content marketing, social media management, paid advertising, and website optimization may help you stay visible as consumer behavior changes. Our team can assist.
Let’s Invest In Your Business’s Marketing This Summer
Contact Wes Web now and see how our custom advertising and marketing services may provide more traffic to your business and generate more qualified leads to help your business grow year-round.