When the temperatures rise and the days get longer, I’ve noticed something happens in our industry. While everyone’s heading to the beach, traditional marketing efforts often take a dip. Email open rates decline, social media engagement wanes, and it becomes increasingly difficult to capture attention when everyone’s soaking up the sunshine.
But here’s the thing I’ve learned after years in real estate: summer isn’t the time to pull back on marketing. It’s the perfect opportunity to get creative and stand out when your competition might be taking their foot off the gas. Let me share some summer marketing strategies that have helped McQuaid & Company thrive during these sunshine-filled months.
Go Where Your Audience Is
The first rule of summer marketing? If your audience is outside, that’s where your brand needs to be, too. I’ve learned that you can’t expect people to come to you during the summer. You need to meet them where they’re gathering.
In Naples, our beaches and waterfront areas become hotspots during summer evenings. That’s why we created our “Rockin’ on the Bay” concert series. Instead of fighting against people’s desire to be outdoors, we embraced it and positioned our brand right in the middle of where people wanted to be anyway.
Think about where your ideal clients spend their summer days and evenings. Is it at the local farmers market? Community pools? Outdoor festivals? Find ways to have a presence in these spaces, whether through sponsorships, pop-up events, or creative guerrilla marketing tactics.
Create Instagram-Worthy Moments
Summer is prime time for social media sharing. Everyone’s posting their vacation photos, beach days, and outdoor adventures. Why not create opportunities for your brand to be part of those memories?
We’ve set up photo opportunities at our open houses and community events that are practically begging to be shared. Think red-carpet entries, creative props, or stunning visual displays that align with your brand. For one of our luxury waterfront property open houses, we created a custom frame that perfectly captured the spectacular view, with our branding subtly incorporated.
These shareable moments turn your clients into brand ambassadors without them even realizing it. When someone posts that perfect summer moment and your brand is part of it, you’ve just reached their entire network in the most authentic way possible.
Embrace the Season in Your Content
Your marketing should reflect the reality of the season. Nothing feels more disconnected than receiving winter-themed content in the middle of July. I make sure our content calendar shifts with the seasons, embracing summer themes, colors, and activities.
Our summer email newsletters feature local beach conditions, best sunset viewing spots, and family-friendly outdoor activities around Naples. This type of content provides real value to our audience while keeping our brand top of mind. We actually see higher engagement on these seasonal emails because they’re timely and relevant to what people care about right now.
Remember, content doesn’t always have to directly sell your product or service. Sometimes the best marketing simply makes people feel good about your brand because you understand their current needs and interests.
Take Your Service Outside
If your business typically operates indoors, summer is the perfect time to experiment with taking your services outside. For us, this has meant outdoor property tours, waterfront closing celebrations, and even hosting client appreciation events at local parks.
Not only does this approach embrace the season, but it also creates a more relaxed atmosphere where clients can interact with your brand in a less formal setting. Some of our strongest client relationships have been built during these summer outdoor gatherings where conversations flow more naturally and connections deepen.
Get Creative with Promotional Items
Summer provides unique opportunities for branded giveaways that people will actually use. We’ve moved beyond the standard pens and notepads to items that enhance summer experiences: branded beach towels, high-quality sunscreen in our company’s colors, portable phone chargers for outdoor adventures, and custom cooler bags.
The key is selecting items that align with both your brand and the summer lifestyle of your target audience. When someone uses your branded beach towel all summer long, that’s months of exposure for your business in the exact settings where potential clients might be gathering.
Prioritize Mobile Everything
During summer, people are less tied to their desks and more likely to engage with content on mobile devices. We’ve learned to adapt our communication strategy accordingly, ensuring that everything from emails to landing pages is optimized for on-the-go viewing.
Our summer campaigns feature shorter subject lines, more scannable content, larger call-to-action buttons, and messaging that acknowledges the mobile summer lifestyle. Small adjustments like these can significantly impact engagement when people are checking emails between dips in the pool.
The Summer Advantage
While some businesses see summer as a challenging time for marketing, I’ve come to view it as an opportunity to stand out through creativity and understanding of seasonal behavior shifts. By embracing rather than fighting against summer patterns, you can create marketing that resonates more deeply and distinguishes your brand when competitors might be on autopilot.
The businesses that win during summer are those willing to step outside conventional marketing approaches and meet their audience in the sunshine. After all, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from Florida summers, it’s that the brightest light gets noticed, even on the sunniest days.
What summer marketing strategies have worked for your business? I’d love to hear your creative approaches to standing out during the sunshine season!
