Summer. The time of year when meetings are sparse, inboxes are quieter, and almost everyone appears to have an auto-reply OOO message. It’s tempting to be lulled into the perception that the world is on pause until September. So very tempting…
BUT, whilst your competitors snooze in their beach or backyard hammocks, you could be setting yourself up for autumnal success, especially in your SMS and email marketing game! It’s the perfect time to pause, evaluate, and strategize so that when Fall rolls around (and the Q4 mania commences), you’ll have your marketing ready to rumble!
Here’s how to maximize those mellower months so that you’re set up for success when infamous and beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte season hits:
Audit Your Content for What’s Working and What’s Next
Taking time to reflect is extremely productive and important. Pull performance reports of the last 6-12 months from your email, SMS, social, and blog platforms. Look for formats that consistently overperform or topics with which your audience resonates.
Review things like:
- Open rates and click-throughs
- Shares
- Keyword performance
- Conversion rates on landing pages
If you’re using SMS, look at send times, opt-out rates, and which CTAs drove replies or clicks. This is gold for refining your mobile strategy.
Plan Your Fall Campaigns and Batch Your Content
Batch content creation during the summer can set you up for a stress-free (or at the very least stress-light) Fall.
Plan it all out!
- Pinpoint important dates like Labor Day, Halloween, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and any other relevant dates for your audience.
- Consider industry-specific events, awareness days, or back-to-school timing.
- Brainstorm themes
- Build a timeline
- Outline promos, launches, or seasonal foci/pushes
- Draft blogs/email/SMS copy in advance and in bulk (your future self will want to kiss you)
- Schedule social content
Refresh and Repurpose Old Content
We’d call it a hack, but once you start repurposing, it feels less like a hack and more like the way you should have been generating content from the get-go.
A great (and easy) way to refresh the work you’ve already created! Update the stats on high-performing content. Tweak the copy to match the current online vernacular or to try a new approach. Blogs can be carousels. Carousels can be static posts or videos. And your best-performing blog or promo email? Condense it into a SMS and test it. Use repurposing to test message consistency across channels. What works in email may perform even better in SMS!
Mobiniti’s campaign templates make this even easier! You can drop in your repurposed content and launch a targeted SMS campaign in minutes. No need to start from scratch every time.
Use repurposing to test message consistency across channels. What performs well in email might actually convert better in a well-timed text.
Get creative with how you repurpose, and your content calendar will fill up faster than it ever has before. You’ve already got the fabulous content, just repurpose it!
Research Seasonal Trends and Consumer Behavior
Time to do just a little bit of studying. What are the projected Fall marketing trends? Consumers are expecting mobile-first experiences. Use this time to research what your audience responds to on mobile specifically, not just in general.
A few trends to keep an eye on for Fall:
- Personalization (especially in SMS and email)
- Interactive content
- Short-form video and UGC
- SMS-first promos for high open rates
Check out sites like Marketing Brew and HubSpot’s Blog for help spotting what’s on the horizon trend-wise.
Experiment With New Formats While Engagement is Low
Engagement is lower for everyone, which makes it the perfect time to quietly test. Throw that marketing spaghetti at the wall. Fewer people will notice if it didn’t stick during these summer months. And if it does stick, you’ve got yourself one more avenue to pursue for your Fall marketing strategy!
Some ideas to explore:
- SMS vs. Email (which performs better?)
- Different CTA styles
- Short-form video or GIF-based content
- A/B testing subject lines or send times
- Interactive content (polls, quizzes, etc.)
Try SMS polls or tap-to-text quizzes to boost interactivity. Bonus: they’re fast to make and even faster to measure!
Clean Up Your Marketing Stack
Spring Cleaning? She’s cute, but we prefer the Summertime Sweep. This lull in the season is a great time for some “digital housekeeping”.
- Reevaluate your tools, including your SMS platform and integrations.
- Remove inactive contacts or unengaged subscribers.
- Review and refresh brand guidelines, design assets, and message templates.
- Clean up SMS keyword triggers, unsubscribe flows, and subscriber segments.
Don’t Let Summer Go to Waste
Summer is a strategic gift if you use it correctly. Yes, you could coast through the rest of July and August, but if you use this time to prep your Fall marketing, you’ll save yourself so much stress down the road!
With fewer day-to-day distractions, you have a rare chance to zoom out, fix what’s a little clunky, and lay some amazing groundwork for the rest of the year.
Whether you’re updating old content, tightening your SMS strategy, refining your workflows, or simply staying abreast of the trends, these quieter months can be some of your most productive. Whilst others scramble and toil during autumn, you’ll already be steps ahead with queued campaigns, refined messaging, and more time to focus on finishing out the year strong and looking toward the horizon.
Need help refreshing your SMS flows or auditing your list? Let’s chat. Our team can help you make the most of your summer downtime.
