Fireflies and bonfires, farmer’s markets and county fairs – summer is here! Some ideas for heating up your marketing efforts during this great season in the Granite State:
1) Think “back to school” when others aren’t.
A realtor could blog about taking school districts into consideration when looking at New Hampshire homes this summer. A café owner could offer lunch discounts for parents who show a store receipt for back-to-school shopping. So could a nail salon, or a gourmet bakery. A mechanic could offer a “Mom’s taxi” special. Come up with something clever now and you won’t have to rush to get your postcards and banners in by August when school preparations begin in earnest.
2) Raise your profile with hot-weather giveaways.
Many New Hampshire towns have summer farmer’s markets or special “Main Street” evenings. If your store or office is located nearby, stay open a little later to catch the pedestrian crowd. Your town doesn’t have such events, or it’s too far from your location? Put on that logoed shirt and hand out water bottles and smiles to people wherever they’re gathering in town.
(Regular readers will notice this is not the first time I’ve mentioned the water bottles. That’s because they work! Especially here in Northern New England where we can have some hot muggy days and so many homes and businesses don’t have air conditioning.)
3) Treat your best clients, and their families, to some all-American fun.
Popular summer activities like baseball are prohibitively expensive for the smaller business owner in a big city but a great family-friendly bargain here in the Granite State. Why not treat your top clients/customers to a night at the Fisher Cats?
4) Tap into the “stay-cation” trend.
If you run print ads in the local media, design your summer ad as a visitor’s guide: “Top 10 Hikes in the Lakes Region – Sponsored by Main Street Electronics” or “Best Picnic Spots in the Monadnock Region – Sponsored
by the Mountainview Café.” The same concept works for postcards and customer handouts.