Warm sea, fresh cocktails, all night parties and sailing – it’s summer! Nine months of hard work are behind and the mind unwittingly shifts to the thoughts about vacation and rest. In the summertime, regular businesses may suffer from some stagnation. Whether you sell toys or provide cleaning services, you can’t use a more effective communication channel with your target audience than content marketing. Creative summer content marketing ideas like exciting announcements, dynamic videos, company updates on the blog, and fun descriptions of your products are the direct way to catch buyer’s attention.
Here are the top 10 content marketing techniques you should try this summer to close as many hot deals as possible.
1. Incorporate Actionable Elements into Your Posts
Encourage direct interaction from users by making your content actionable. Introduce features that allow them to like, share, subscribe to social network groups, leave comments, or write reviews. In return for their engagement, provide customers with attractive incentives. These can range from purchase discounts and branded gifts to extended trial periods or exclusive event invitations.
By implementing these organic actions, you can enhance visitor loyalty, expand your subscriber base, and grow your social media community. Additionally, increased engagement rates and positive SEO signals will have a positive impact on your website’s search rankings. The key advantage lies in building an extended network of potential buyers or clients.
Here are some practical examples of marketing tactics you can employ: “Share this post with your friends and receive a $10 discount on your next purchase,” or “Subscribe to our newsletter and receive a complimentary branded cap.”
By incorporating actionable elements into your summer content marketing strategy, you can drive user engagement, expand your reach, and incentivize potential customers to take valuable actions.
2. Feature Interviews with Industry Leaders
Incorporating influencer marketing into your strategy can yield significant benefits for all parties involved. According to current trends, for every $1 spent on influencer promotion, businesses are generating $5.20 in earned media value. By leveraging the expertise and authority of industry leaders, you can captivate readers and bolster their trust.
Conducting interviews with respected individuals in your niche allows you to create valuable and authentic content for your audience with minimal effort. The influencers themselves will contribute greatly to your creative marketing ideas.
While discussing topics related to your business area is valuable, delving into personal stories can also ignite readers’ interest. People love to learn how influential figures navigate real-life situations, discover their daily routines, and uncover the secrets behind their success. For instance, you can ask about their summer plans or seek advice on the best holiday destinations.
Additionally, engaging your users doesn’t necessarily require organizing a full interview session with a famous individual. A brief mention in an article, where you present an influencer’s opinion on a specific issue or event, can be equally impactful.
By featuring interviews with industry leaders in your summer content marketing, you can leverage their authority, provide valuable insights to your audience, and enhance user engagement.
3. Craft an Exclusive Story for a Popular Industry Blog
Creating unique and compelling content that unveils the latest research can capture the attention of various publications. Reach out to guest blogs, media pages, or personal websites of influencers to inquire about upcoming topics in their editorial calendars.
Alternatively, you can stay informed about current trends and developments in your industry by keeping a close eye on relevant changes. Set up Google alerts using keywords that are pertinent to your business. For example, if you sell cars, use keywords like “automotive news.” Journalists are always on the lookout for captivating stories and insights, so providing them with an overview of a sensational event or topic can attract significant interest.
When crafting your content, make sure to include links to external resources to support your points and provide depth to your writing. Drawing on statistics, facts, and reputable opinions adds credibility and interest to your piece. The more unique, reliable, and engaging your content is, the higher the likelihood that relevant publications will publish it and provide backlinks to your website.
By creating an exclusive story for a popular industry blog, you can leverage their audience and authority, gain exposure for your brand, and potentially attract a wider audience to your own platforms.
4. Develop a Compelling Descriptive Writing Strategy
Random and haphazard posts that lack a coherent content marketing approach are bound to fall short. In today’s business landscape, it is essential to make smart promotional decisions that save money and yield faster results. To achieve this, pay attention to a crucial aspect of your content marketing initiatives: a well-defined writing strategy. This strategy will enable you to identify your target readers, establish a unique writing style, and engage users effectively.
One of the most powerful creative marketing ideas for your writing strategy is to prioritize descriptive writing. This technique allows writers to infuse texts with more expression, excitement, and, most importantly, vividly present mundane product or service descriptions. By incorporating rich descriptive language, you provide readers with the opportunity to visualize even abstract concepts and fully assess the qualities of the goods or services you offer.
A descriptive writing strategy enhances engagement by creating a sensory experience for your audience. It ignites their imagination, making your content more memorable and persuasive. Through vivid and detailed descriptions, you can evoke emotions, spark curiosity, and highlight the unique features or benefits of your offerings.
Remember to tailor your descriptive writing strategy to suit the summer season. Use words and phrases that evoke sensations of warmth, relaxation, adventure, or any other relevant aspects associated with the summer months. By doing so, you can create a compelling and immersive experience for your readers, making your content more impactful and memorable.
By implementing a descriptive writing strategy in your summer content marketing, you can captivate your audience, differentiate your brand, and effectively convey the value of your products or services.
Just look at how skillfully Apple applied the descriptive style:
5. Repurpose Content into Different Formats
The great news is that you don’t need to spend a significant amount of time developing separate content plans for various marketing channels. You can accomplish this efficiently by repurposing existing materials. Consider converting an article from your blog into a video format and publishing it on your YouTube profile. Alternatively, transform a long list of items into an engaging infographic. You can even publish a portion of your new article on LinkedIn Pulse, accompanied by a link to the original post. Since each channel tends to have a distinct audience, why not leverage this opportunity to maximize your reach?
The key is to create one core piece of content and then adapt it for various platforms where it remains relevant. Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko, is a true master of this technique. He converts the majority of his blog posts into YouTube videos, achieving incredible results. In fact, Brian advocates for the concept of producing universal content in his educational materials.
Repurposing your content in different formats allows you to cater to diverse audience preferences and consumption habits. Some people prefer watching videos, while others prefer visual content like infographics. By converting your content, you can effectively engage with your audience across multiple channels, reinforce your brand message, and maximize the impact of your content marketing efforts.
Remember to align the content format with the summer theme whenever possible. For example, create visually appealing videos or infographics that evoke the vibrant and sunny atmosphere of the season. This will further resonate with your audience and enhance the overall impact of your summer content marketing campaign.
By repurposing your content into different formats, you can amplify your reach, increase engagement, and ensure your message reaches a wider audience across various marketing channels.
6. Leverage Social Networks for Content Distribution
Make it a priority to actively engage with social networks by monitoring newsfeeds, groups, and communities relevant to your industry. Look out for questions or discussions related to your type of product or service. Whenever you come across a question that aligns with the content you’ve created, seize the opportunity to provide a helpful and knowledgeable response. Reinforce your answer by sharing a link to the original source.
However, it’s crucial to ensure that your response doesn’t come across as a promotional post and adheres to the policies of the platform. Focus on offering genuine value and expertise rather than overtly promoting your brand or products.
By actively participating in relevant conversations and sharing valuable insights, you establish yourself as a trusted authority in your field. This approach can attract attention, drive traffic to your website, and increase the visibility and reach of your content. It also provides an opportunity to foster meaningful connections and engage with potential customers.
You can set up notifications about new questions by using services that crawl social channels and forums.
7. Enhance and Republish High-Performing Content
Identify your best-performing content by analyzing repost indicators from tools like BuzzSumo, or by assessing metrics such as page views and conversions. This valuable content represents a goldmine that can generate even greater profits if you continue to maintain and improve its quality. Additionally, search engines are more likely to recognize and reward these contributions, potentially boosting your rankings and increasing visibility.
It’s a good idea to conduct a content analysis at the end of every quarter or month and slightly upgrade your best pages. For this, you can use Google Analytics or Ahrefs with its brilliant “Top Pages” feature. Just type in your domain and see what pages on your website have attracted the biggest traffic ever.
Go through every line of the best articles once again to see what points can be improved or corrected. Double check the presented statistics and numbers to make sure that they are still valid and match the results of the latest research. If possible, associate updates with the summer season.
By enhancing and republishing your best-performing content, you can extend its lifespan and maximize its impact. Update the information, optimize it for search engines, refresh the visuals, and ensure it remains relevant to your target audience. By doing so, you can maintain its appeal and capitalize on its success.
Consider aligning the content upgrades with the summer season. Incorporate summer-related themes, trends, or experiences to make the content more timely and engaging for your audience during the summer months.
8. Stay Engaged with Summer Events
Identify conferences and events relevant to your niche that will take place during the summer season and make note of their hashtags. There are several steps you can take to leverage these events for your content marketing strategy:
Firstly, write a blog post presenting a comprehensive list of upcoming events in your industry. This will serve as a valuable resource for your audience and demonstrate your knowledge and engagement within the industry.
Secondly, generate content specifically tailored for attendees of these events. For example, create a list of recommended hotels, travel routes, local traditions, or must-visit places in the event location. Providing practical and relevant information for event-goers positions you as a helpful resource and increases engagement with your brand.
Lastly, actively participate in the event’s online community by sharing your materials and insights using the event’s designated hashtag. This will help you reach a wider audience, connect with fellow attendees, and establish your brand as an authoritative voice in the industry.
Another effective creative summer content marketing idea is to review the agenda of the planned conferences and create blog posts or content pieces based on the topics covered by the speakers. This allows you to provide valuable insights and information to your audience, demonstrating your expertise in the field. By offering valuable content for free, you build trust and credibility with your audience, which can lead to future business opportunities.
By staying engaged with summer events and providing valuable content related to those events, you can attract a highly targeted audience, enhance brand visibility, and position yourself as an industry leader. This approach allows you to tap into the excitement and buzz surrounding these events, leveraging them for your content marketing strategy.
9. Use Bright Elements to Evoke Positive Associations
To capture the attention of users yearning for a vacation, the sea, and the beach, it’s important to evoke these vibrant associations and reflect the carefree spirit of summer in your content and design. Here are some strategies to consider:
- Embrace Entertainment: Center your content around entertainment and leisure activities. Provide interactive content marketing techniques such as including a rebus, offering relaxation tips, creating comics, or sharing summer stories. Engage your audience with fun and light-hearted content that resonates with the summer theme.
- Promote Summer-Related Tips, Products, or Services: Tailor your content to feature tips, products, or services that enhance people’s downtime or vacations. Offer valuable suggestions for summer activities, travel destinations, outdoor experiences, or relaxation techniques. Position your brand as a helpful resource for making the most of the summer season.
- Integrate Bright Visual Elements: Use vibrant colors, imagery, and design elements that evoke positive associations with summer. Incorporate images of beaches, sunny landscapes, or refreshing water to capture the essence of the season. Consider creating visually appealing graphics, illustrations, or videos that showcase the joy and vibrancy of summer.
- Leverage Social Media: Utilize social media platforms to share engaging and visually appealing content that aligns with the summer theme. Encourage user-generated content by creating summer-themed contests, hashtags, or challenges. Foster a sense of community and excitement around your brand during the summer months.
By incorporating bright and cheerful elements into your content, you can evoke positive associations and capture the attention of users seeking summer experiences. This approach allows you to create a lively and engaging brand presence that resonates with your target audience during the summer season.
10. Optimize Content for Mobile Devices
During the summer, the number of users accessing websites from mobile devices tends to increase. It is crucial to prioritize mobile content optimization to provide a seamless and enjoyable experience for your mobile users. Here are some key considerations:
- Ensure Mobile Responsiveness: Check how your content is displayed across different devices and screen sizes. Test its responsiveness and fix any display issues or inconsistencies to ensure a smooth user experience.
- Improve Page Load Speed: Keep in mind that visitors, particularly those on vacation, may have limited internet connectivity. Optimize your website’s loading speed to accommodate slower connections. Reduce image file sizes, minimize the use of heavy animations or GIFs, and streamline your content to ensure quick loading times.
- Streamline Text Content: When creating content for mobile devices, avoid overloading the pages with excessive text or GIFs, especially in emails. Consider the limited screen real estate on mobile devices and focus on concise, visually engaging content that is easily digestible on smaller screens.
- Utilize Mobile-Friendly Formats: Consider using mobile-friendly formats such as responsive design, AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), or mobile-specific templates to ensure a seamless user experience across different devices.
Mobile optimization is essential for engaging and retaining mobile users during the summer season. By providing a smooth browsing experience and optimizing your content for faster loading times, you can cater to the needs of mobile users and enhance their overall satisfaction.
By adapting your content to mobile devices, you can effectively reach and engage with your target audience, irrespective of their location or device preference. This approach allows you to maximize the impact of your summer content marketing efforts and ensure a positive user experience on mobile platforms.
The Best Time to Act
For the majority of people, good summer vacation is an incentive to work harder and achieve new heights. Make your content motivational and relaxing at the same time. By mastering this fine science, you’ll retain the customers during the entire year, even if your summer is a slower season for your business.
To learn more about how to optimize your content for increased lead generation and reach, download our White Paper, The Content Lifecycle, below.
About the Author
Maria Plahonina is a chief marketing officer of the international digital marketing agency, ReVerb. She is a tech-savvy marketing specialist responsible for creating and promoting enthusiastic brand messages that resonate with a company’s target audience. Her expertise includes blogging, SEO, design, social media marketing, email marketing, branding, and PR.