Summertime Marketing Success Stories

Summertime is typically a slow season for marketing. Most firms are in the planning stage for campaigns to start in the fall. However, some firms are using these few months to introduce new products and services and are finding success. Here are three examples of high profile companies taking advantage of the supposedly slow season—it’s not slow for them!

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has launched a $ 24 million dollar campaign entitled “Life is short, Summer is Shorter. Make a splash in Las Vegas.” As the leading leisure destination in the world, they are spending $3 million more this year than last year. Using all media including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, they are planning on reversing the trend that has plagued them over the past several years.

BMW beat the benchmarks with a summer campaign that was focused on digital media. They focused on high impact display ads on automotive and premium sites to reach an already engaged viewer. For this campaign, Yahoo gave them an award for their digital strategy which, by the way, increased sales by seven percent.

Pepsi also sees summer as a perfect time to push their brand in the right direction after sinking to third in soda sales. Their summer campaign slogan is “Summer Time is Pepsi Time” and takes direct aim at its competitor, Coca Cola, by parodying their iconic past commercials, such as the polar bears. This strategy shows summer is a perfect time to engage new groups and convert the brand-loyal.

Competition during the summer months is far less than any other time of the year. It is counter intuitive, but it’s a fact. People might be on vacation but rarely stop using all their electronic devices. Because of this supposed slow down, companies that advertise will reap the benefits.

This could be you! Let CMA help you avoid the summer slowdown and gain advantage over your competitors.

Jeffrey Barnhart

President and CEO

jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com

Don’t Let Your Marketing Take a Vacation!

To many companies, putting the brakes on marketing over the summer is the standard operating procedure.  At CMA, we believe this is one of those rules that is meant to be broken.

While it might be true that many clients or prospects will be taking some time off over the summer months, very few companies can tune out from Memorial Day through Labor Day. As your competition is sitting by the pool, consider these strategies for making the most out of the summer months.

Your marketing plan is 12 months not nine.  When you craft your marketing plan, keep in mind the different times of year as well as peak times for your specific industry. Overall, your plan should be a year-round marketing program. There might be peaks and valleys, but you need to stay fairly consistent to get the ROI you are looking for out of your marketing.

Make the summer slowdown work for you.  A lot of businesses experience a bit of a lull during the summer.  This lull can be your chance to break through with your key prospects with well-designed email marketing and/or direct mail campaigns.  You might find that “too busy prospect” has a bit more time to take your call or review your latest brochure during the quiet summer months.

Take advantage of your competition being asleep at the wheel.   With less clutter in the inboxes of your target audience, your message can have greater impact.  Rather than being one of many, enjoy the chance to stand out and be heard.

Remember September is just around the corner.   Any kid will tell you that summer vacation goes by too quick.  Make sure you don’t get too distracted by the summer fun and forget to keep your marketing program moving forward for the fall.  If you get too far behind, you’ll get stuck worrying about whether you should wait to ramp up your marketing until after the holidays!

Looking for cost effective ways to keep your marketing program moving forward this summer? Give me a call.

Erin Higgins

Director of Marketing Services

ehiggins@cmasolutions.com