Triple-Digit Slowdown
It’s late July in Oklahoma. It’s hot. Really hot.
The kind of hot where nobody wants to get out of the AC unless there’s a very good reason. Summer vacations are wrapping up. Back-to-school lists are starting to take over. Families are returning to routines, summer spending is slowing down and, for a lot of small businesses, things are getting a little quieter.
We’re hot. We’re tired. Business is slow. So, naturally, this is when we get uninspired.
When business slows down, there’s a temptation to let marketing slow down with it. Cut the advertising budget. Post a little less. Wait for football season, fall festivals or Christmas shopping to bring everyone back. But the slow season is actually when you need marketing the most. When people are already shopping, marketing has an easier job. Christmas is coming whether you advertise or not.
A random Tuesday at the end of July? That takes a little creativity. Your job is to give people a reason to make the trip. Run the Tuesday special. Put together the weird little event you’ve been thinking about. Bundle a few products together. Partner with the business down the street. Stay open a little later one evening. Give your customers something fun to do when everyone is hot, bored and ready for summer to be over.
And, most importantly, tell people about it. Because even when customers aren’t actively shopping, they’re still living their lives. Birthdays still happen. Babies are still being born. People are still getting married. Someone is going to remember at 4 p.m. that they need a gift for a dinner at 6.
Where are they going to go? If you’ve disappeared from their radar for the summer, there’s a pretty good chance they’re going to default to Walmart or Amazon. But if they’ve been seeing your business in their social media feed, in the local newspaper or while they’re browsing online, you have a much better chance of being the place that comes to mind first.
That’s what staying top of mind is really about. You have to keep the conversation going. Marketing isn’t just about capturing customers who were already planning to spend money. Sometimes its most important job is creating a reason for someone to spend their time and money with you in the first place.
So when business gets quiet, resist the urge to go quiet with it. Get creative. Try something. Remind people you’re there. Be the birthday gift they grab on the way to dinner. Be the afternoon stop that gets everyone out of the house. Be the place a friend texts another friend and says, “Hey, have you seen what they’re doing?”
Be the reason someone makes the trip on a Tuesday. Even when it’s 103 degrees outside.
Main Street marketing, done right.
Until next time,
Alice
