Does marketing change with the seasons? In many cases, yes, it leads seasonal sales efforts. Snow shovels don’t sell well in the spring, summer or fall. They do much better in the winter. However, if you have a product or service that is not dependent upon a change in seasons, is there any benefit in trying to push your marketing in one season over another? The answer may be yes, especially during the summer. Why would summertime marketing be more effective than other seasons? Because people feel better in the summer and people are more open to buying when they are happy.

Here is an axiom of marketing: if you are going to effectively sell to a certain group of people, you have to know when to step forward with your marketing and when to step back. Understanding the marketing mood of your target market is crucial when making a campaign strategy. Anytime you can hitch your marketing to your target market’s happy feelings, convincing them to buy from you becomes that much easier. If there were a season that makes most people happy, summer is it. The days are longer, there are more holidays and vacations taken in the summer. People are outside for longer periods of time and in a much better mood to socialize with others than at any other season of the year. This has been proven to enhance people’s moods and when they are happy, they buy more. Marketing in the summertime just makes sense.

There is another aspect you should consider when looking at the mood of your market: when they are feeling down. Wait a minute! If you are telling me to market to people in the summertime when they are feeling good, why would you flip the coin and say to do so also when their mood is the polar opposite? There is a simple reason: people want a fix to their melancholy feelings. Just like you can go with the happy summertime feelings, you can position your marketing to offer your brand as a solution to the blues. So, whether your target is feeling good or feeling bad, you can market to their mood. The trick is knowing them well enough to distinguish when to do one or the other.

This is where the smart marketer has to stay connected to the changing attitudes of the marketplace. For instance, we are officially in the summer season now. Is there anything that may be causing people pain or stress that is dragging down their mood? What about the economy? Inflation has a lot of people rethinking their vacation plans for the summer. What if your brand could offer the fix to their problems so they could experience a happy season again? That would be worth marketing. But does your product or service really fix problems? You must find out how it does–or you need to remake it so it does–and then market it like it does.

Marketing works very well when it leads the way to happiness. So, what is the mood of your customers right now? Are they feeling good or are they feeling down? Is your marketing showing them the way to make them happy? If not, you need to rework your marketing so it opens up the curtains for your customers and leads them to the sunshine. It is what makes them feel good.