If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Marketing is essential to success. It should never be a casualty of ignorance, inattention, or budget cuts. 

It also should never take a back seat in the summer.

Most leaders I talk to won’t ask their sales staff to take a step back when the weather’s warmer. Why not? Because they want to keep that sales pipeline full, regardless of the season. The same concept applies to things like IT and cybersecurity or HR and compensation.

If your marketing has taken a back seat on your priority list this summer — or even worse, it isn’t on that list at all — consider this a wake-up call. 

You might be coasting on spring marketing momentum right now. But are you thinking of the long game? You should be. 

Here’s why your marketing should stay top-of-mind at all times and in all seasons – even in the dog days of summer.

Maintaining Summer Marketing Perspective: What’s the Point?

Here’s a question for you. Why do you market your brand? What does that even mean? 

It’s important to ask because marketing isn’t like most areas of business. When you reference sales, IT, or HR, you know what that means. Even the C-suite makes sense in an executive sense. 

Yet, for many leaders, marketing remains an intangible, tough-to-track activity, which puts it in danger of slipping off the radar on a day-to-day basis, especially when half your staff is on vacation, and you just want to change into shorts and a t-shirt.

Let’s look at a few of the biggest reasons you market your brand, not just when you think you need to but right through the summer as part of a long-term strategy to grow your business and thrive in your industry year-round

Marketing Drives Sales

The first and most obvious benefit to summer marketing is revenue. Marketing is a powerful way to get your brand, messaging, products, and services in front of your target audience. It helps generate leads, increase sales, and maximize ROI.

Digifora recently saw this in action when our team ran digital ads for a fine dining client. The result was the best Father’s Day in history, not just for their restaurant but also for their entire franchise. There are plenty of similar holidays and summer vacation concepts to capitalize on throughout the summer months.

Marketing Increases Visibility

Marketing has the subtle but powerful effect of helping your brand stand out. The Rule of Seven says a consumer must encounter your marketing at least seven times before deciding to make a purchase. Other estimates are higher than that. 

Repeat exposure takes time, though. You can’t cram that into a sales pitch or Google result. You also don’t want to take the summer off without anyone seeing or hearing from you. You need to maintain a steady flow of awareness that sows the seeds for greater market share over time. It’s worth noting that during slow times, it’s often easier to get in front of people, too, since your competitors are likely restricting their budgets.

Digifora recently saw the power of brand awareness marketing in action with a faith-based accounting firm in California. We helped them develop a targeted campaign of SEO-optimized owned content for their site. The result was a massive spike in impressions and website traffic, along with an overall organic increase in brand awareness that will continue through the coming months.

Marketing Encourages Engagement

Sales pitches can be pushy. Advertisements are predictable. While they have a time and place, these are one-dimensional elements of promoting a brand. 

In contrast, the multi-faceted toolkit that marketing provides makes it easier not just to get your company in front of consumers but also to encourage them to engage. Good engagement generates leads, builds brand loyalty, and improves customer retention at any time. (Remember, acquisition can be four to seven times more expensive than retention.)

We recently saw this engagement in action with a client’s socials. Our targeted YouTube advertising push helped them unlock explosive growth on their channel, creating a built-in and ready-to-click audience in the process.

Marketing Reveals Research Insights

Finally, I always remind our partners that each marketing campaign isn’t a one-time event. The data it creates can continue to serve your company for years. Data gathered during a summer marketing campaign can be crucial in setting up fall and winter marketing initiatives.

By creating KPIs and tracking results, you can create unique market research environments and even conduct competitor analysis. Gather feedback from customers. Use A/B testing. Look for what works and what doesn’t, and then use that for your next study.

This applies to every marketing activity. For instance, earlier this year, we helped a media company set up its website. As we hashed out our options, we kept going to A/B testing as an option to make any tough decisions in design, layout, and text. Go live. Test two options. See which one works. Repeat with the next question.

Long-Term Marketing Requires Vision, Consistency, and Support

I hope you’re picking up on my point. Marketing isn’t something you do only in good times. It should always be front of mind. Even in the summer.

It should also adapt to your current needs, the stage of your business, your cash flow, and countless other factors. This is where working with a fractional CMO is a game changer. 

Our team has worked with countless companies that understand marketing is important but don’t know how to create continual, comprehensive marketing momentum. 

A full-service agency like digifora can plug any knowledge or skill gaps. We can dream with you, cast a vision, map out how to get there, and then help you implement each stage and step of that strategy.

From local fine dining to national non-profits, a fractional CMO is an affordable and invaluable way to get the most out of every dollar you put into summer marketing — and that dollar amount shouldn’t be a trickle or come from excess income. It should be a significant and serious investment. That’s how you get things to pay off.

A recent experience with a physical therapy partner comes to mind. They reached out to us as a way to get their first ever marketing campaign started. We sat down with them, helped them create a plan, and then together, we put it in motion. 

The results? They saw the two best months their business had ever had — immediately.

You can get serious results from your marketing, even in the summer. You just need to invest in it. Set a serious marketing budget (Resist that urge to cut and slash.) Then, find a quality, experienced partner like digifora and get an ongoing marketing plan in place. 

Trust me. The results will speak for themselves.

Stay cool out there!