5 Ways to Get Your Business Ready For Summer

Spring is almost over, the kiddies have gone back to school and now its time to get down to business…real business. With so much buzz surrounding our little beach city, 2010 is shaping up to be one of Panama City Beach’s busiest summer seasons ever. So, the question is, what are you doing to get ready?

Spring Cleaning:

One of the most difficult aspects of Spring Break to overcome is the overall filth; and that filth knows no bounds. The hotel rooms are dirty, the bars are dirty, the restaurants are dirty–everything is dirty. You do not want the summer guests to arrive and complain at your front desk about beer cans under beds or clogged restrooms overflowing. Now is the time to hire summer staff and put them to work. You have less than one month to wipe clean that spring break filth and show your best side.

Start Looking At The Calendar:

Summer events for 2010 are going to be huge and if you don’t know what events will be encouraging vacationers to head to PCB, you could be missing out. Right now, from the Thunder Beach Rally in May to the Summer Concert Series and the Billfish Tournament mid-summer, for vacationers, inspired by the low-cost fares the likes of which Panama City Beach has never seen, a weekend getaway will be all the rave…which leads us to the next point.

What Is Your Best Deal:

If you don’t have an answer to this question already, you need to get to work. Although some will argue that the new airport will not have an effect on Panama City Beach, those looking to make the most of the summer season should be thinking more optimistically. At the very least, business owners and managers should be ready to give their very best deal on a moments notice. Are you giving one night free, free appetizers or free covers? Or are you thinking out of the box…

Start Thinking Partnerships:

…And by out of the box, we mean partnerships and co-ops. Get out and make parnerships with other local businesses to increase your value. One of the more popular ideas is to create a partnership with the Southwest Airlines. This, of course, will be the easy one. Why not offer a room with a free pass to Miracle Strip at Pier Park or Shipwreck? Why not, along with your services, offer a free meal at a popular restaurant or free drinks at the nearest pub. If you’re really thinking out of the box, create partnerships with several businesses and have a little something for every vacationers; parasails for adventurers, discounted fishing trips for fun lovers and dinner cruises for romantics. These partnerships create more value in your business and help to create a greater sense of unity throughout the city. You can be sure, other businesses are waiting for you to come partner-up. So what happens when you have a clean establishment, a great deal and lots of partnerships and you’re looking to promote? Well…

Are You Social Yet:

One of the best ways to promote your business as well as create a large database is through social networking. If you don’t already have a facebook fan page and a twitter account for your business, you need to play catch up. But, being social means more than Facebook updates. What the future of social media really means is user-generated reviews and user-generated, search-engine-indexable-content. For those who aren’t web-savvy, that means instead of you spending tons of marketing dollars telling people how great your are, all those people, through your social media, can tell each other as well as all their friends. And you should already know that the best marketing is word-of-mouth marketing. On top of that, every word they utter about how wonderful your establishment is and how great your deals, it is all searchable on the web. Good stuff right? New and popular social mediums like Gowalla and Foursquare are integrating geo-taggin which means that they can give reviews while in your establishment that people who are in or around your establishment can see all in real time. Yep…crazy.

Summer is coming…get ready.