Summer conjures up many images from sandy beaches to cheering on the national team. Whatever you have planned, it’s a good opportunity to take advantage of any downtime in regular business activity to enhance your PR and digital marketing.

After all, the news cycle never stops, your website needs constant updates, and your competitors will be seeking to make the same gains.

So, here are six ways you can generate leads and boost your awareness this summer.

1) Conduct a website audit

Given the recent news about the worldwide computer outages, one essential task you should prioritise is a comprehensive website audit. This involves evaluating website performance, usability, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation – more below) and security.

By identifying and addressing any issues, you can ensure your website is optimised to attract and retain customers, enhance user experience and improve search engine rankings.

Benefits include:

• More focus on effectively identifying and resolving technical issues, outdated content, and SEO shortcomings, leading to more thorough and strategic improvements
• Implementing these fixes when website traffic is lower minimises the risk of disrupting user experience and losing potential customers
• By enhancing your website’s functionality and performance now, you position your business to capitalise on increased traffic and sales during peak periods. This strategic timing allows for a more robust and resilient online presence, contributing to sustained growth and competitive advantage.

2) Refresh your content calendar

Many trade and lifestyle magazines still employ the time-honoured content calendar or editorial programme that sets out upcoming topics to match your content and thought leaderships.

The summer break provides the ideal time to re-evaluate how new campaigns could align with the rest of the year, as well as checking for any updates on their chosen topics.

Meanwhile, a mid-year evaluation of your content creation could reveal missing gaps within your key messages and priorities set out at the start of the year or following your last strategic board meeting.

3) Build up your SEO

Summer is an ideal time to bolster your SEO efforts to build momentum for the rest of the year.

Focus on producing high-quality, evergreen content that addresses your audiences’ key questions and needs. This type of content is not only engaging but can enhance your search engine visibility, ensuring you’re in an optimal position to attract organic traffic.

Ensure that you consider Google’s E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) guidelines by carrying out thorough research on your chosen topic so that your content is factually accurate and up to date. Cite authoritative sources, collaborate with experts in your team and only cite external sources that are reputable and trustworthy.

Monitor your backlink profile and seek opportunities to enhance this. Identify reputable websites for high-quality links to aid authority and rankings for key search term. Develop a strategy around this.

4) PR stunts for August ‘silly season’

If there’s one event in the media calendar you can rely on, it’s August silly season. Essentially, these are fun, informal and light-hearted stories.

While they may not fully relate to strategic goals, it keeps you in the news and shows a different side to your personality for your target audience and recruitment talent pool.

We recommend a strategic and creative approach, keeping it light and tapping into PR milestones or popular culture. Being quick can grab a headline, as per the Marks and Spencer advertising spin-offs. The best examples centre on the unique and quirky.

Don’t forget to repurpose for multi-channel. A video of your team attempting a Guinness World Record to mark a key anniversary could go on social media and feature in your next customer e-newsletter.

5) Target journalist research

Summer is a good time to focus on your media contacts. For example, fresh desk research into your contacts book and reviewing media profiles of your company to reaffirm what makes you newsworthy and different, the relevant topics you enjoy commenting on, and bios of your spokespeople and how best to contact them.

You could also outline future campaigns for the autumn and winter and start engaging with key contacts with a strategic slow-burning approach, rather than a one-off immediate press release.

6) Optimise your online advertising

You can thoroughly review your advertising strategies without the pressure of peak season demands.

An audit allows you to assess the performance of your campaigns, identify areas for improvement, and ensure your budget is being used effectively.

By analysing metrics and refining your targeting, you can optimise your ads to better reach your audience.

Additionally, updating your content to reflect any recent changes in your products or services can enhance your advertising relevance.

Taking advantage of this downtime to conduct an audit not only prepares your business for the busier months ahead but also sets the stage for increased efficiency and profitability.

Get in touch!

This summer checklist can help yield positive results for your business and may even outperform the time-sensitive priorities during other parts of the year. By maximising your PR and digital marketing gains this summer, you’ll be reaping the rewards by the time everyone returns in September.

But this is just the start. Get in touch to find out how we can support you PR and Digital Marketing objectives and drive forward your business.