The summer is quickly approaching and you are panicking on how to stay relevant and not see a drop in performance.  Here are a few quick tactics to put into place and ensure you summer isn’t a drag…. 

• Review past trends – If you have been in business the last few years run a few reports and compare year over year by month. This will allow you to notice what partners work best for you, what your true seasonality is (summer or not) as well as some useful insights that can help boost performance doing low season. 
• • Partners – review metrics by partners. Some partners have their own seasonality. Some may be good during the summer or allow for more efficient spending. Increase spend with those partners and lower spend or pause poor performers.  
  • Seasonality – Ensure you know when your slow season is, how long it lasts and why. It make sense if you are a winter boot company that the US would be a slow market for you during the summer months. But what if you are a seasonal brand or service, what if your busy season is opposite the typical retail season? You have to understand your market, product, user and need. Be realistic with goals and prepare in advance for your slow season. 
  • Frequency / dayparting – maximize your investment the best you can. Heavy up on days, times, geo’s etc. that perform best for you. Pay attention as those metrics evolve and change. 
• Be mobile – Just because your audience isn’t sitting in front of a computer doesn’t mean you can’t reach them. Be innovative with the types of media you utilize to get your message out there. Be open to trying new things and reach your audience where they are instead of where you are. 
• • Mobile Advertising – mobile advertising is growing tremendously. Mobile web, in-app, video, gaming are all huge revenue drivers for most. Having your website mobile optimized is important for the best user experience possible. 
  • Social Media – Paid social media is everywhere. You are reaching your users in a personal safe environment with a look and feel similar to the content. It is a great way to efficiently target your users as well as drive efficiencies. 
  • Influencer Marketing – Having real people promote your brand or speak about it in an article on your site has huge “influence” on many consumers. Having the feeling a trusted person or celebrity is endorsing a product can have a huge impact on one’s brand perception and purchasing decision. 
• Be engaging – New tactics can be expensive, but help drive increase in performance and engagement. Look to leverage assets you have, if possible, but ensure the quality isn’t lacking. 
• • Video, streaming audio/TV – These are great ways to make a splash in the marketplace. They are inviting and engaging and get your message out there with audio and visuals, making it easy for your audience to know who you are and learn more/take action/etc. 
• Be Efficient – Heavy up on tactics that are working and driving results. Be mindful of having marketplace traction and continued learnings. However, put your money and effort where it will pay off positively. 
• • Tactics – Not only are some of the above tactics great to test and invest in during slow seasons. 
  • • Paid search – is a great way to drive efficient low funnel conversions at scale. 
    • Review any audience data/insight you may have and see if there are any new targeting tactics you can test to help drive a performance boost. 

Overall be mindful and realistic of what you know, learning more and figuring out what would be a good test for you. Not every tactic is going to work and nothing is a silver bullet. Start with implementing what you know will work based on your 1st party data – the insights of your seasonality, performance, tactics, etc. See how that impacts your results and then take on another change, re-evaluate and do the same. Have fun and keep driving success for you.