After our crazy, cold and (VERY) long winter on the east coast this year, Memorial Day has finally arrived and marks the unofficial start of summer. While B2C businesses may be able to take advantage of various summer marketing opportunities, for B2B marketers summer often marks a slower business pace peppered with vacations, hours by the pool and relaxation many Americans enjoy over the summer months. For B2B businesses, summer can be start of an awfully slow period in the year.
During the business lull often brought by summer, B2B marketers have a unique opportunity to gear up for fall and the rest of the year. Summer is the perfect time to rev up your B2B marketing efforts — to polish or finish up on marketing projects, to plan for post-summer promotions or events, and to get geared up to better engage and interact with customers come fall.
Here are just a few ways B2B marketers can take advantage of the summer lull and step up marketing efforts come fall:
- Social Media. Summer is a good time to (finally) get set up on and learn to use social media. If you are not yet on the major social media networks, summer is a great time to sign up, learn, and start using social media. If you are already using social media, take the time to update your bios and company pages and to engage with customers.
- Conduct Research and Surveys. Summer is a great time to talk to your clients and conduct research and surveys to assess how well you are serving them and how you can do better.
- Catch Up on Your Reading List. Whether it be on the beach or in the office, summer is a great time to read. Take advantage of the down time by catching up on your business and marketing reading. From industry articles to books on marketing, summer is the perfect time to read up on and generate ideas for both marketing your company and for generating marketing content.
- Network. Attend events and take advantage of the slow summer pace and generally relaxed business atmosphere by networking with clients, potential clients, and vendors.
- Write. Summer is a great time to get ahead on your writing and content creation. Generate new content for your company blog, revise and revamp the content in your marketing materials, write white papers, and other materials.
