5 Tips to get your online marketing ready for swimsuit season

What does summertime have to do with your waistline and your business? Well, if your business is at all seasonal, you’re gearing up for summer traffic peaks or slower demand as people go on holiday. At the same time, if you’re like me, you’re likely worrying about what you’re going to look like (and feel like) the first time you put on a swim suit this year. While the outcomes of getting ready to wear a bathing suit and getting your business ready for summer couldn’t be more different, the best practices of the two overlap a lot more than you’d think. And the best thing about this list is that it works whether your business is seasonal or whether summer’s just another day in the office. What do I mean? Well, read on to see 5 tips to get your business ready for swimsuit season.

1. Visualize your dream (suit). Virtually nobody looks like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie in a swim suit (or just about anything else for that matter). But that doesn’t mean you can’t aspire to greatness. Make sure you’ve set the right goals about what you want from your business this summer. Then use those goals to drive your activities before, during and after peak season.



2. Focus on your best areas. Just like no swim suit works for everyone, not every marketing activity you’re trying today works for your business. Assess where you are in your activities and trim those activities that aren’t working for you. Instead, focus on those areas providing the greatest return and buy yourself time to test new ideas that might work better.
3. Accessorize. Looking good often depends on having the right accessories. By the same token, you can spice up your marketing by building on your core and trying some new things. Whether you call it “agile marketing” or “doing it wrong quickly,” the idea is to test ideas quickly, learn from those tests, and build on that learning to drive greater results. Just like a great diver’s watch or fun cover-up can make a good swim suit look better, the right marketing “accessories” can improve your overall efforts dramatically.
4. If you can’t be thin, buy rich. While you don’t necessarily need to spend a lot on marketing, don’t skimp on the areas that help you be most effective. Whether it’s getting the right tools or upgrading your team’s skills, don’t be afraid to spend a little money on the areas that matter most to your business’s success.
5. Size doesn’t matter. Remember, your goal isn’t necessarily to grow huge–especially when it comes to swimsuits! It’s to see progress from where you are. Track where your business is today relative to where you were a month ago, a quarter, a year. For seasonal businesses, evaluating where you are year-on-year is particularly critical. But even if your business stays relatively constant all year round, make sure that you’re moving in the right direction and hitting your key performance indicators. Steady growth you can manage often produces greater long-term benefit than short-term, but unsustainable, jumps in business.

Whether you need your marketing to work 365 days a year or, like your bathing suit, just for the next few months, these tips can help keep your business in shape and looking good all summer long.