Guide to Planning Your Marketing Campaigns

The third quarter of the year or simply Q3 is probably the most fun – it’s summer. It is also peppered with holidays and other significant events, such as Wimbledon and Independence Day. It’s also the wedding season! Just thinking of them makes you think of fun and vacation as well.

Aside from the fun, Q3 is also a great time to generate big revenues. As a marketer, you just don’t want to let it pass. Look at the statistics:

Wimbledon is broadcasted in 200 territories with an estimated 1 billion viewership and 24.1 million stream request
The National Retail Federation predicted that 214 million people will celebrate the 4th of July, and will spend around $6.8 billion.
Couples spend around $30,000 on average on their wedding
The summer spending of an average American household is $1,978
The average child’s back-to-school expenses are $688

These are just some of the facts and figures, but you can already imagine the money spent during this period. So how can you incorporate a marketing strategy that will boost your sales in Q3?

Here are a few ideas as you plan your marketing strategy for Q3:

Create exclusive sales for that particular event or holiday

You can offer this exclusive sale to your newsletter or email subscribers. Not only will you nurture your current customers but it is also an excellent opportunity to grow your list. Another strategy is to make the sale exclusive for a specified period before you make it accessible to all your customer base. You can also use this to ramp up your lead generation by telling your customers that they can get exclusive access to fantastic deals if they subscribe.

Weeks before the event or holiday starts, start updating your opt-in forms and modifying the offer based on the coming event. For example, “Subscribe now and get 50% off any school supplies.”

Exclusive deals, such as these, make your customers feel important as if they’re part of an elite group. It boosts their self-esteem. Just take a look at how Apple uses this strategy every time they’re launching a new product.

Create a sense of urgency

Remember looking for available flights for your next vacation, and there’s this note, “Hurry! Only 2 seats left! 5 people are looking at it right now.”

What did you do? You hurriedly clicked it and paid because you’re afraid somebody will get it ahead of you.

Psychologists say that creating a sense of urgency spurs people to action and takes them out of feelings of procrastination. This is a great strategy to encourage your customers to purchase your products because no one wants to pass a great offer.

One strategy to create that sense of urgency is to place a countdown timer on your landing or product page. It will remind them and develop a sense of urgency as they see that time is running out.

Facebook has this feature where you can use themes so you can let others know you are celebrating the event. In the same way, you can also do this to your other social media profile, so you stay relevant with “the times.” You don’t need to make significant changes. Instead, you can update your profile or post messages relevant to the event.

You can also search Twitter for trending hashtags that are relevant to the event. And if it will boost your online presence, engage with the community by joining their conversation.

You can also appeal to their good graces by encouraging them to get involved in a charitable cause. When you are able to get them to do that, chances are you will be able to convince them to purchase your product. The psychological explanation to this is you can make people comply to a large request once they agree to a smaller request first.

Be creative

Wimbledon, back-to-school, weddings, 4th of July, and other holidays – these are the times people spend the most because they want to enjoy the event and get into the spirit. In other words, they are ready to let those cash go. However, this does not guarantee high returns; therefore, you need to be creative when planning your marketing campaigns.

Some ideas include:

Holiday/event guide – Suggest what the best products are or tell your customers what’s the best gift for a wedding or the perfect shirt while enjoying a Wimbledon match, even if it’s just in the comforts of their own living room.
Free shipping – Nothing is more attractive than the word ‘free.’ If you are selling services or software, a free one-month trial or download will do wonders in attracting your customers.
Personalized combo – Personalized offers are part of customer nurturing plus the discounts are irresistible.