Summer is just around the corner. With school out, and fun in the sun in your future, is your business ready to prosper in the heat too? Not to scare you, but next month the calendar year is half over! Are you on track to meet your business goals? If, yes, great job! You must be utilizing your marketing calendar to the fullest! If not, don’t worry just yet, here are a few fun sizzling summer sales ideas to help you reach your goals.
GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE
Here I am all geared up for a parade last summer.
Take advantage of places that attract summer crowds, such as parades, local festivals, outdoor shopping areas, and nearby beaches or recreational areas. Bring flyers to pass out or set up a stand and hand out cold water bottles or freezie pops with your company logo and contact information attached or prominently displayed.
Parades are a great opportunity to get your business name in front of new potential customers. Slap some magnets on a vehicle (contact me if you need to order your custom magnets today!), if you don’t want to go all out with a float, and throw out a treat with your company info attached, or even better, a coupon.
Does your community throw a celebration, or is there a big summer concert in your area? If you have an edible product, handing out samples at these events can be a great way to reach new customers. If not, you could try handing out other freebies, like sunscreen or chapstick with your company logo and website on them.
Did you know you can get beer flavored chapstick? Even pick the brand of beer?! If the crowd at these events is your target customer (and this item is appropriate), this could be a fun freebie for you to hand out!
HIT THE HOLIDAYS
Fourth of July, Labor Day, Back to School — these are all perfect occasions to promote your business. Send your customers a themed email for any sale, 
promotion, or event you’re doing around these holidays. Promote your sales on your social media pages before the holiday, but save your holiday posts for being genuine and paying tribute.
Zappos did a great job of this last year on their Facebook page, by simply stating Happy Forth of July, and used their products to create a flag.
Want help promoting your summer events, check out my next post, for free Facebook banners for the summer!
HOST A SUMMER PHOTO CONTEST
If you are planning to take some time off this summer but want to keep the buzz going about your company or products, give a summer photo contest a try.
Dunkin’ Donuts did a great job of this with their Fan of the Week contest!
Selfies are everywhere, and everyone is doing it, young and old alike! So use that to your advantage and ask your customers to use a fun custom hashtag you create like, #{yourcompanyname}summerselfie or better yet ask them to take a selfie while using your product!
You can encourage your customers to submit throughout the summer for weekly or monthly prizes. Take it up a notch and create a summery theme for each week, or pick one product to highlight that week. Photos that get the most comments, likes and shares will win the contest. They’ll also be a big win for you as your contest generates heated debate and traffic for your brand.
CHALK IT UP
If you have a brick and mortar store, consider writing a promotional message, such as “$4meals for the 4th of July,” in 
chalk on the sidewalk in front of your store. Or use chalk to drawa colorful summer scene — featuring your products and business logo, of course — on the sidewalk.
You could even leave the chalk on your sidewalk for your “little” customers to use while mom and dad are shopping.
As a bonus, customers may even take photos and post them to their social media accounts, which can create viral exposure for your business as well.
HOST AN EVENT
School’s out for summer, which means people have more time to on their hands. So why not throw an event to get your customers together? If you’re a flower shop, you might host a summer flower arranging class. If you’re a fitness professional, you might get your clients together for a beach boot camp. Or if you are an auto shop, why not offer free car washes before a big weekend? You are providing a service, but also getting people in your doors!
When promoting your event, one thing to consider is just targeting your regular customers with the invitation to show them some love, along with attracting those coveted new customers.
People will be on the lookout for sizzlin’ summer sales as the holidays roll around. So make sure to keep your business top of mind!
It’s a good idea to discount items that would be particularly relevant the summer or for each holiday. For Fourth of July, try running promotions for party items, like BBQ supplies or red-white-and-blue decorations. Labor Day tends to be the time people get back to school & business, so make sure to promote items around those themes.
Start grilling, and start brainstorming ways to increase your sales as the temperatures rise! Don’t forget, if you need a little help brainstorming to give me a shout or join us in the Facebook group below!
