The kids are out of school, July 4th is coming up, it’s 85 degrees – time for vacation! But what do you do about marketing your business if you’re hundreds of miles away from the office?
Here are some tips to maintain your marketing while you’re gone:
- Email newsletter – keep it brief! Other people are on vacation too, so don’t give them too much to read or they’ll skip over it. If you’ll be gone when your newsletter usually goes out to your contacts, write it before you leave – you can set a time & date for it to be sent out.
- Social media – if you have a smartphone, make sure you have your Facebook and Twitter apps set up with your business accounts. Tweet from the beach! If you can’t monitor through your mobile, choose a trusted employee to keep posting status updates while you’re gone.
- Auto reply – don’t use the generic “Jen is out of the office” message! Make it fun and creative, while letting people know that the business is still open. The auto reply is a marketing opportunity that works for you while you’re away!
- Find a balance – most people can’t keep from checking their emails while on vacation, while some would rather not see technology at all! You need a happy medium – how about once in the morning and once at night? That gives you time to monitor and respond to work-related things without taking time away from family and friends.
- Cultivate leads – that guy next to you at the beach bar is talking about his landscaping business, and you just happen to sell commercial lawnmowers! Be sure you have some business cards with you, and that you get contact information from potentials you meet on vacation. Don’t forget to follow up when you get back to the office!
See? You can still have a strong brand impression from a distance. Really, it’s about making a little time each day for short email/social media sessions, leaving most of the responsibility in capable hands back home, and doing a few things preemptively to save time.
