Five ways your business can make the most of the summer bank holiday

Summer can be a difficult time for some businesses. Consumer spending habits change as people flock to beaches, towns and cities either here or in another country.

Any reliability of routine goes out the window - and while that can be great news for businesses on the coast or in popular tourist hotspots, it can be more difficult for businesses that rely on routine trade. 

British summer is unpredictable at the best of times - it’s certainly been cooler and damper up to now - but August typically sees the biggest impact on small businesses. Most kids are off school, the days are long and, for England and Wales, we have a bank holiday. The first since May.

Bank holidays are welcomed by most people - a day off work, an extended weekend, a chance to do something enjoyable. So to make the most out of that general consensus, it’s best to gear your business up to a certain mindset. Go with it, rather than against it.

So even if your business is a windowless basement bar or you sell Christmas cards - there are still things you can do. Here are my five tips to make the most of the summer bank holiday. 

A flash sale or a special promotion 

Whatever it is that your business does - a sale or promotion is likely to be greeted with open arms. A summer sale might be more fitting for a clothes retailer, if you’ll pardon the pun, but the concept’s certainly not limited to one specific market.

Think about what you do and how you could offer a limited-time discount or promotion to attract customers. Maybe it’s a discount for anyone that books your services or buys your goods in the run-up to the bank holiday. Perhaps you could offer your services for cheaper over the bank holiday weekend, making your business more appealing to people that aren’t planning to go away. 

Equally, you might find if you’re trading in an area that’s popular with tourists that you have a whole new audience to greet. If you sell ice-creams and postcards then you might not need to offer a discount, but if your business isn’t directly linked to the reason the tourists are there then a special offer can entice what could otherwise be passers-by. 

It’s important to shout about any such sales or promotions on social media too. You'll want to create buzz and urgency, the more people that know about your promotion the better. 

Consider a holiday themed marketing campaign

It’s never a bad idea to hook a marketing campaign around some kind of known event. Half the job is done for you then in that most of the public will already know what you’re getting at. A bank holiday is very much one of those events. 

Depending on what you do or what you sell, the campaign may need to be tweaked. But the basic principle remains the same. Direct your messaging, advertising and communications towards the event in question. Use hashtags for visibility, consider a holiday-specific email campaign that lets your customers know what you’re doing. 

The key here is to let customers new and old know that you’re getting into the spirit of the occasion and you’re looking forward to bringing them along for the ride. 

Host community events

This one will take some effort - and it might cost a bit up-front too. But the benefits can really go a long way, and certainly beyond the specific calendar date it’s centred around.

The event you choose to host can vary - it could be larger in scale, like a family-friendly fun day in the town square - or it could be something that’s specific to your business. If you sell goods, it could be a sampling afternoon. If you run a gym, a community sports day. If you’re a tradesman, you could host a DIY workshop, where you teach basic DIY skills.

The benefits of hosting events and activities like these will draw crowds to you and your business there and then, but the memories will remain and that (alongside positive word of mouth) can be powerful stuff indeed. 

Don’t forget to stock up

This tip is especially important if you’re likely to see increased trade as a direct result of the summer bank holiday, but it’s worth bearing in mind either way. 

Disruptions to trade isn’t limited to a change in consumer habits. Suppliers may also decide to close up for the long weekend. Some businesses might choose to take an even longer break. If you rely on getting your stock from a supplier who’s closed over the holiday period and you run out, then you’re going to quickly find yourself losing sales. 

It’s a tricky balance to get right. Buying too much stock can be an issue if it doesn’t sell - especially if it’s perishable. Too little, and you might not be able to meet the demand. If you’ve been trading a while, you can look back at how previous periods have been and forecast around that as best you can. If this is your first summer trading then it’s sensible to speak to people. Suppliers might be able to help give an indication and monitoring trends can also help. What are consumers and industry news sites saying? 

Of course the ideal situation is to encourage pre-orders, that way you have an idea of what you’re dealing with in advance - it won’t be possible for every type of business but it’s worth doing where applicable. 

Collaborate with other businesses

Nothing says community like collaboration. And promoting a community feel - whether that’s within your local community or within the small business community - will always foster goodwill. 

You might consider partnering with other local businesses to cross-promote each other’s services or products. Of course, this might not be appropriate if you both offer the same thing - but where possible it can be beneficial to help one another out. 

If you own a bakery, maybe you can team up with a coffee shop? Think about other businesses that might compliment your own and see what benefits a collaboration could bring. The same goes for hosting joint events too - you could draw larger crowds as there are more people promoting it - and the costs will be less too because you can share that burden.