Vancouver summers are legendary. There’s a feeling of not wanting to waste a precious moment of warmth, sunshine, and opportunity in our rainy city.
As much as I love summer and getting outside…I miss my kid being in school, not sweating when I fall asleep, and having an oily, sweaty face ALL THE TIME. I do have a point here: People are as online as ever but we’re often sharing a ton and spending less time scrolling.
So here’s how you can be strategic about your marketing time right now:
🌞 Prepare for your build-up. Think about when you need to be aggressive with your marketing. For many brands, that is during the holidays when it is the noisiest and most expensive to stand out. So start running brand awareness ads months before your big push to build your audience. Think about how you can zig when everyone zags during the holidays.
🌞 You want blue oceans. The idea is that you don’t want to go to the red ocean, where a feeding frenzy is. You want to find a clear place in the sea. Maybe for you, that’s pushing hard in January when everyone is thinking about health and wellness.
🌞 Let it go. You can’t force people to care when they’re checked out. I find people really aren’t ready to accept summer is over until the third week of September. They’re holding onto long weekends and lake days like cold death, and then they’re focused on settling into a new routine. I would almost never recommend having an event in the first couple of weeks of September or a big launch.
🌞 Cut costs where you can. Suppose you’re a food brand that crushes it in December. In that case, you might want to consider cutting back on your marketing in January. Take a breath, re-align, and cut back temporarily if needed. Your audience also needs breathing room if you’ve been doing 2x the regular content and outreach during the holidays. (Your marketing people, too!)
So if you’re reading this during these gorgeous summer days, thank you. I know you’d rather snorkel before rollerblading while eating a hot dog.