How does your mindset change from winter to summer? Think about what you want and need most during the cold and snowy winter months. What is relevant to you? What draws your attention and makes you say “I want that now!”? Now compare this to the warm and sunny summer months. How do your wants and needs change? If you’re like most people, the answer is…drastically.

This begs a critical question for a business’s advertising strategy. If consumers’ desires change from season to season, shouldn’t the types of ads you’re placing change as well? It’s common sense, but so often businesses don’t act upon it. Sure, keeping things the same year round is easy, but this won’t maximize the effectiveness of your advertising.

Let’s take a look at a few key ways your advertising strategy should change in the summer months.

1. Appeal to your audience’s changing desires.

First and foremost, you want to evaluate how your target audience’s wants, needs and desires shift during the summer months. If you’re a clothing company, you’re now selling very different products than what you sell in the winter months. You wouldn’t run a magazine ad of people wearing sweaters and pants and expect this to effectively reach your audience in the spring and summer.

People desire products and services that are immediately relevant to their wants and needs. Think of how you can position what you’re selling as a summer essential. HVAC companies completely shift from promoting their heating services to promoting their air conditioning repair and installation services in the summer. While your business may not have a product or service that changes this drastically, you should find a way to play-up what you do have that is relevant to summer.

2. Evoke “summer” emotions.

People feel different in the summer than they do in the winter. Here in Central Pennsylvania, people celebrate the warm weather and outdoor activities they finally get to enjoy again after a long, cold winter. People want to be outside, near water, enjoying an outdoor event or attending a fair or festival. Know your region and how people feel about the summer months. Your advertising strategy should evoke these same emotions.

3. Consider how people use media differently in the summer.

Is your target audience a younger demographic? If so, consider that kids are out of school for the summer. This means more time spent on mobile devices and watching TV. Summer is also a time when families tend to travel a lot more, so billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising could be highly effective for your business. Use common sense, but also do your research to figure out how your target audience is consuming media in the summer, and then meet them there!

4. Create a catchy campaign.

Finally, you should change your advertising strategy in the summer by theming your ads with a catchy slogan or tagline that is relevant to summer. Use this campaign consistently across all of your advertising for the season. Think of how tourist destinations do this with each new season. Cities with beaches play up their ocean front property in the summer months, but shift this completely in the winter off-season to their ski slopes or indoor waterparks. Play up your business’s own best summer features by incorporating this into a fun and fresh campaign.

Do you implement a seasonal advertising strategy? How do each of the four seasons differ? Share your thoughts, or your questions by leaving a comment below!