Summer is officially here – the smell of freshly mowed grass, great food cooking on the grill, and some much-needed downtime is all we need – right? But what does summertime mean for your business? Some small businesses find that summer brings a seasonal lull in sales and general business activity. Others find that the warm weather causes business to heat up. How do you take control of what will happen in your business?

The bottom line is warmer weather puts everyone in a relaxed, laid back mood, myself included. I work half days on Wednesdays and Fridays all summer long so I can head to the beach and enjoy. That being said, my beach time isn’t slowing down my business efforts. In fact, I’m heating things up in my business this summer!

When it comes to your business’s marketing strategy, the last thing you should be doing is relaxing your approach. If you’re attracting fewer customers and have extra time, use the time to update your marketing strategy, website content and SEO to put yourself in a strong position for the fall. Try the following tactics for the next 3 months:

Create a special offer

Just because sales can slowdown during summer that doesn’t mean you can’t add a little boost to your revenue. Create a special offer or a summer discount on some of your most popular products or services and promote it on social media and to your email list.

Learn a new skill

As sales slowdown, take the summer months as an opportunity to learn a new skill that will help you further your business growth. Learn a new social media platform, take some design training on Canva, get really good at creating video content or take on online course to learn something new.

Have a giveaway

This one sounds like a run-of-the-mill marketing technique, but the reason why it’s so popular is because it works. Giveaways and contests are a great way to get people excited and involved, all while interacting with you. If you can work a summer theme into a giveaway, that’s a perfect way to capitalize on the season! Giving away some of your products or services is a great way for potential new clients and customers to sample your what you have to offer.

Step up your networking and business events.

With many of the COVID 19 restrictions being lifted, this is a great time to get back meeting people face to face. This is something you should do whether business is booming this summer or whether you’re subject to a seasonal lull. If you can’t find any in person events in your area, put one together yourself. Invite people who you want to connect and network with. Think of a central location to make it accessible for most people. This is a great time to reach out to your network and plan something fun.

Build on your summer momentum for the rest of the year.

Don’t let the momentum of summer marketing campaigns fade away in fall and winter. If you’ve been diligently adding new names to your customer database, continue reaching out with newsletters, special offers, promotional discounts and other activities so your small business stays fixed in the mind of your target audience year round. This will help you stay on their minds when it’s time to make a purchase.

These are just some of the ways you can make the most of your summer. Want more? I’ve put together my top 25 Tips to heat Up Your Business this Summer. Download your FREE PDF today!