No campaign? No panic.
Summer is when most teams in companies are scattered. Projects slow down, deadlines move to September rather than July. Partners head off on holiday too, and most companies have far less contact with their audience. This is the time when ‘big stories’ quickly run out in marketing.
But that doesn’t mean you have to go silent. Quite the opposite: periods without campaigns are the ideal opportunity to do something for your brand that will make a difference in the long run. Here are 5 concrete suggestions for what you can do, without big financial outlays and with a realistic input of work, even when your team is reduced.
1. Stay present, even if you don’t have a new offer
If there are no new products, use the time for softer communication. Show who you are, how you think, and what drives you. Summer is the ideal time for content highlighting company values, loosening the tone with less formal posts on social media, or giving the audience a glimpse into your team’s culture.
And of course this can’t be a random photo of an empty office or production hall. It should be a thoughtful look at how you work and think, which the audience can understand and use to connect with you more easily in the future, because they will know you better.
2. Refresh and reuse good content
The most-read article of the first half of the year? The most-shared post? The best customer feedback? It is time to use it again, but differently.
Posts that worked once before can now be reshaped with a new perspective: what has happened since, how would you approach it today, what useful things have you learned from your audience? It can be content that follows on from a previous piece, you can combine several articles into one summary, or prepare a ‘carousel’ with positive customer responses to one of your services.
3. Test what you wouldn’t otherwise dare
In summer there is less monitoring and less commenting, and that can be good news, since it means less pressure and more room to experiment. If during the year you worry that an attempt might ‘fall flat’, you now have the chance to test new formats, a different tone, or a new channel. Post a micro-series of videos, test a new type of ad, perhaps even try an AI tool for generating ideas or structuring content (but watch out: with supervision and the ‘last word’ going to a human, not the AI!)
4. Clean up, fix, set up for what’s next
Yes, this can also mean a physical clean-up of the premises. But here we are mostly thinking about those tasks that have been ‘on the list’ for months and you never get round to. Document and template proofing, UX fixes on the website, and so on. Summer is the right time to fix what isn’t urgent but is important. That way, in autumn you will communicate more clearly, in a more orderly way, more deliberately.
5. Prepare the ground for autumn
Now is the time to think: where will your communication go in autumn? What stories do you want to tell, which channels do you want to include, what strategy will you take? If you make a plan in summer, you can work confidently in autumn, not in a panic. So in summer, prepare a content calendar through to year-end, define the goals communication will support in the second half, or run a mini workshop with the team or partners, if you can get everyone together.
Summer is an opportunity. Just a different one.
If you are also present in communication when there is nothing to ‘sell’, you show that your brand isn’t merely seasonal, that you care about your audience and at the same time about the company.
Show that you know what you are doing.
At Pakt, too, we like to use the summer for everything that escapes us during the year. If you also want to turn summer to your advantage, get in touch.
