Summertime is generally when sales slow down and businesses have some down time. This is the perfect time to put some energy into trying some original marketing techniques. If you generally rely on catalog printing or newsletter printing during summer months, try something new or create a twist on your tried-and-true marketing tactics.



Here are four marketing ideas to give a whirl this summer:

1. Tweak Your Mailing List with the Help of a Magazine

So you've targeted your market and you've used booklet printing, newsletter printing or catalog printing to the max. You've sent out scores of print materials. Are you sure you've done all you can to target your market?

Consider using the mailing list of a specialized magazine ? people who volunteered to receive this magazine ? and send them information about your product. In addition to buying ad space from magazines, many will also rent you their mailing lists. Sometimes you may have to buy the mailing list as a combination with some ad space, but many publishers will rent their mailing lists alone. This is a great way to save you time (less research!) and you know the chances are high that the recipients of your mailing piece are interested in your product. Be sure to send your direct mail pieces at least two to three times over the summer months.

2. Editorially Expose Yourself to the Masses

Many people don't know this, but newspapers and other types of media outlets, like your local TV news station, are understaffed and have informational gaps to fill. They rely on free outside stories that they receive in the form of "mat releases?: stories that are already written and ready to publish.

For less than what you would pay for an ad in a daily newspaper, you could write an article that could be distributed with your byline that could get covered by several newspapers across the nation and generate dozens of leads. Since newspaper stories are normally perceived as more trustworthy than advertising, a mat release is a valuable way to reach and influence readers. Two major mat release services, ARA (distributes online only) and Metro Editorial Services, have pricing that can fit any budget.

3. Use Someone Else's E-Mail Power

Nowadays with the proliferation of spam, people don't open emails from companies and people they don't know. Although email is one of the most cost-effective marketing tactics, its customer acquisition effectiveness has decreased due to all the spam.

To get around this problem of prospects not opening your emails, try to advertise in a third-party e-newsletter. People have to subscribe to e-newsletters, so you know if you place an ad in one, it's highly probable it'll be read. For example, if you're a cake decorator, placing an ad in a bridal e-newsletter could garner you some big business. Brides-to-be will be likely to open the newsletter and peruse its contents, including its ads because the e-newsletter comes from a credible source that they signed up with.

4. Employ Outside Advertising

Outside advertising means any advertising that people see outside of their home (it doesn't necessarily have to be outside ? it could be in a restaurant, for example). From billboards to naming rights for sections of highways, your message can be placed anywhere your prospects go. If you want to reach prospects in their favorite restaurant or movie theater, you can even buy poster space in bathroom stalls.

To effectively use outside advertising, make sure you choose a space where you can influence a purchase, where the customer is already in the mindset to buy your product. For instance, using booklet printing to leave toothpaste booklets at a dentist's office works well, but leaving toothpaste booklets at the library doesn't make much sense. People at the library won't be in the right frame of mind to be influenced to purchase your product like people at the dentist will be. Make sure the placement of your advertising makes logical sense.