It’s almost summer – are you feeling the heat? I’m not just talking about the summer heat. I’m referring to the heat put on marketing teams as employees gear up for summer vacation and work piles up for those of you left in the office.  Don’t let leads go unnurtured or customers unattended. What can you do to make sure your marketing doesn’t fall through the cracks as employees leave for vacation?

Here are our top 7 tips for filling the gaps this summer:

1. Plan early and often
2. Set up marketing automation workflows
3. Schedule social media posts in advance
4. Get everyone on the same page
5. Have regular team meetings
6. Create a stockpile of blogs
7. Encourage employees to ask for help when needed

Plan early and often

The more you plan, the more prepared you’ll be. Lay out a blueprint for what needs to happen (and who needs to do it) during the summer months. Revisit that plan often to ensure all gaps are filled and goals are being met.

Set up marketing automation workflows

Keep regular email newsletters and follow-ups going out on their normal schedule with marketing automation workflows. (Marketing automation tactics increase the sales pipeline by 10% when implemented efficiently.) Email workflows require marketing automation software, and although each software has different features and requirements, the basic models remain the same. If you’re interested in learning more about this, please read our partner HubSpot’s blog for awesome email marketing automation examples.

Schedule social media posts in advance

Social media is easy to forget if there isn’t someone designated to own that task. If your social media coordinator goes on vacation, make sure they’ve used a tool like Buffer or HubSpot to schedule social media posts across all your channels during the time they’ll be away.

Get everyone on the same page

Create a shared vacation calendar and build an out-of-office email template for everyone to use when they’re away to directs clients to the appropriate team member.

Have regular team meetings

Coordinate regular team meetings. Discuss everyone’s daily job duties, so if an employee is planning for vacation, the rest of the team is ready to fill in where needed more quickly. This is also a good time to ensure everyone is being held accountable for the work they’re responsible for.

Create a stockpile of blogs

When work gets backed up or blog writers are out of the office, publishing content can get put on the back burner. Carve out time during the less busy times to write extra blogs for when blog writers aren’t around or are too busy. An easy way to get started is by recycling old content.

Encourage employees to ask for help

People should never be afraid to ask for help. Give your team the security they require to feel safe asking for help when work gets to be too much. Be a leader who uses the power of influence to drive confidence.

If you’re a member of a marketing team, a leader of the team, or a team of one, it’s crucial that you don’t let marketing duties slide during summer. When leads fall through the cracks, business suffers. Keep your sales pipeline and your customers happy as you continue to nurture and delight them through busy months.

Need some guidance? Contact us – we can help all year!