• by David Baker , Op-Ed Contributor, June 2, 2014

We live in a seasonal world, and how we act as consumers and businesspeople changes when days get longer, nights get shorter and weather gets warmer.

I try to break down the summer based on how I might find ways to connect with consumers that differ from what I’ve already automated in my programs. Here are a few observations that may help you shift your approaches this summer: 

Work from home. If you have kids, or even if you don’t, chances are good you may work from home during summer. Like about 50 million other similar consumer segments, working from home does a few things to my online behavior.   I’m online earlier as well as later, and I’m connected everywhere.   I shift devices several times a day (work computer, iPad, smartphone and even my personal laptop).  Now let’s add interactive TV to that device list.    What this means to marketers: you can play with time- and place-shifting, Try new patterns, measure device shifts (mobile use), and understand you are marketing to someone who’s probably more distracted in a work setting and likely in an active state when shopping.

Last-minute vacations.  In a perfect world, we would go through months of planning for vacations, but comparison shopping and getting information on the Internet is so easy, vacation planning now has a shorter cycle.   It is not a foregone conclusion that people with children have already chosen their summer camps and vacation spots. I like to think of summer as three cycles: the hype after the kids finish school, the lull during July when you are begging to find something for the family to do, and then the countdown to back to school.   Recognize that when consumers are in a vacation state, trying hard to find something to do, discretionary spending increases and receptiveness to promotions will increase.   The key is timing it right.

Increased nighttime browsing. Long days, long nights!  We just stay up later in the summer than we do in the winter.  Recognize that the new summer is the summer of connected households.  It will not be uncommon to have four tablets streaming content at 9 p.m.   This is the ideal time to remarket to consumers for the evening browser, the information junkie, the connected socialites who have to post about their day to all their pals on Facebook and Pinterest.   Recognize this and leverage the PM hours to deliver engagement=oriented content. 

Share everything we’re doing this summer. Add up what I’ve mentioned -- more people working from home, more people online looking for things to do, everybody up later and seeking entertainment (digitally) -- and what do you get?  The need to share and connect with all friends and family and find out what everyone else is doing.   We don’t meet at the mailbox anymore and share what’s happening; we manage our social networks online now. Recognize that summer is the season when people are hyper-active on social networks, so if your products or services are relational, this is an optimal time to invest in social advertising and build share-worthy content.  

Research. Since summer is now a time where people are out and more connected, use this fact to get in front of your customers.   Exit interviews or polls?  Use any excuse to get the pulse of your customers -- and if possible, do it live.  This is a really valuable time to understand what they think about your brand, the connection they have to your email program, and what they do with their inbox during this season.   This just takes a bit of planning, and can result in some of the most meaningful qualitative feedback you get all year.

Let’s have a great summer!