With the summer holidays upon us, brands need to effectively communicate with customers to ensure they continue to create social buzz around upcoming promotions and transform them into brand advocates.

Lee Hawksley of ExactTarget shares his tips on how to make the most of summer marketing.

1. Use your knowledge

Use data from previous years to identify the most popular summer products. Promote those products to new customers and offer upgrades to customers that purchased similar products last year. 

2. Go mobile

Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, today’s consumers are highly connected all the time, no matter where they are.

According to market reserch company eMarketer, around half of all Australians own a smartphone. American research and advisory firm Gartner also revealed “consumers keep their smartphones with them for an average of 16 hours per day.”

To communicate effectively with your potential customers, ensure all communications are readable on mobile devices.

3. Enable mobile purchases

In its Tablets Rival Smartphones for Mobile Buying in Australia report, eMarketer found three out of 10 internet users in Australia made a retail purchase via their smartphone between May 2012 and May 2013, and 19 percent made one via tablet.

This trend is likely to continue, so make sure your customers can buy from your online store easily and quickly using their smart device. 

4. Use summer themed content

Look for ways to incorporate summer themes into your website and marketing. Include relevant information on summer-related topics and keep your content fresh, topical, relevant and beneficial. 

5. Offer incentives/package deals

If summer is traditionally a quieter time for your business, offer a range of incentives and package deals. If your business has a range of summer products, encourage purchases by offering express delivery on in-demand products. 

6. Hold a summer sale

Excess stock takes up space and limits cash flow. Be sure to plan a summer sale to shift remaining stock at the end of the season.

7. Plan for winter

While focusing on increasing business in the summer, don’t forget to plan for the coming season.

Today’s consumer is the most connected in history, creating an opportunity for marketers to optimise online interactions. With so many channels to communicate through, marketers can deliver a positive customer experience that is relevant, builds loyalty and drives sales, no matter what time of year it is.

ExactTarget is a US based company that specialises in providing email and interactive marketing to businesses. Lee Hawksley is the company’s managing director in Australia.