It’s officially summer.
The days are longer, the weather is warmer, and it’s officially summer. This means that your customers are doing plenty of things to stay busy – but it also means that they’re missing a ton of great email marketing content, and that could lead to a drop in revenue (the “summer slowdown”) if you’re not careful to adjust your sails.
The same email marketing and digital strategies you were using a few months ago aren’t going to be as effective now that you’ve lost your captive audience, and it’s time to think about making a few updates to your seasonal marketing plan.
What’s The Summer Slowdown?
For both eCommerce and brick-and-mortar brands, the summer slowdown struggle is real. More people are spending money on traveling or saving more because of rising prices.
There’s less foot traffic in physical locations and online shopping on non-necessities also historically slows down. On top of that, kids are out of school and parents aren’t looking at their email notifications as much, making it even more challenging to connect digitally with them.
Make Your Seasonal Marketing Plan Sizzle
It’s easy to throw your hands up and wait until the fall to launch comprehensive marketing campaigns – you could be missing out on valuable revenue.
Just as you would develop a robust holiday marketing plan for the winter months, so too should you pivot your approach during the summer season.
Ok, so what does that mean?
Tap Into The Vibe
If your customers are heading on a tropical vacation or a trip to the beach, send your brand along with them! Use these fun activities and carry that vibe throughout your seasonal marketing plan.
When I talk about email marketing I typically mean personal outreach and follow-up. Connecting your messaging to activities that you are doing and referencing common summer activities/challenges like taking trips, having the kids at home while you work, cutting out early on a Friday, etc. is a great way to use digital small talk to build a connection with your prospects.
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Run Seasonal Offers
Study after study will tell you that July and August are notorious for being abnormally slow. Why? Because your prospects and potential customers have more on their plate. More to think about. More things to spend their money on. One way to stand out is to create offers, programs, or discounts that are tied with their busy summer schedules as an incentive to move forward. If you sell physical products to consumers it could simply be a sale or discount. If you sell services to professionals you could alter how that service is delivered to alleviate any concerns they may have about bandwidth.
Remember, the key to success with marketing is building a human connection. Letting them you understand that they have a lot going on, and being there to accommodate any challenges will go a long way in standing out over your competition.
Focus On Follow Up Over Perfect Timing
If your brand typically sends emails throughout the business day hoping to get more engagement, now may be the time to reassess this approach.
People who are traveling, swimming, and enjoying the sun during the day will likely miss some of your emails. Don’t let this discourage you. Focus on following up when your competitors would give up. Just because you don’t get as many replies or clicks as you expected, it does not mean they are not interested.
More than likely they just missed it. So be sure to follow up and follow up often. , s
Use Connect 365 means to automate your outreach and create a campaign that tackles the follow-up at your customers’ pace; send your content to meet their schedule and your customers are sure to remember your brand name.
Expand Your Email Campaigns
Instead of sending out your usual number of email campaigns and hoping that your customers will engage, try boosting the number of weekly campaigns you can send out. Add one or two more campaigns a week to your seasonal marketing plan, at different times or on different days of the week. Segment your audience and use automated tools to create personalized follow-up and reengagement campaigns for the email subscribers that show interest in learning more.
Carefully Craft Content
Don’t fall into the trap of sending out vague, generic content in your seasonal marketing messages. And even though you may have less attention being paid to you than normal, don’t skip the leg work and dive in for the sale right away. Summer is fun and exciting, and you need authentic, personalized emails to help capture that vibe (see above).
For Connect 365 users that may have a bit of writer’s block, our Automation Library offers an archive of our top-performing email campaigns, proven to get results. This means you'll have dozens of campaign templates that you can add to your seasonal marketing plan with just a click of a button.
Get Out Of The Heat
Fighting the summer slowdown means your marketing can’t take a vacation – even if your customers can. With Connect 365, you can create seasonal email marketing campaigns that work to keep your brand top-of-mind. Take a break this summer while your emails work harder than ever with our follow-up automation, our template library, and a list of other resources to make your seasonal marketing sizzle! To learn more, request an invite here.
Connect 365 is a great way to send personal-looking emails, even though they’re automated. Using custom fields in automated emails is what can empower you to actually get the emails sent - and increase their effectiveness.
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