Should you reduce your ads budget during the summer holidays?

Many B2B companies reduce their advertising budgets over the summer. But does that actually make sense? The answer depends on your buyer journey, your capacity, and not least what you expect to get out of your advertising.

Indhold

Your decision depends on… The summer holidays can give the target audience time to explore options Is anyone there to answer the phone? Competitors often take more time off than the target audience When does it make sense to scale back?

Your decision depends on…

The summer holidays are approaching, and in many companies this prompts considerations about budgets, staffing, and activities during the period.

Because when decision-makers, salespeople, and marketers go on holiday, does it even make sense to continue advertising?

The obvious answer may be no. Typically, fewer decisions are made, fewer meetings are booked, and many organisations operate at a lower pace.

However, if you work with B2B marketing, the question is not quite that simple.

So what do the summer holidays actually mean for companies with long buyer journeys? When does it make sense to continue advertising, and when does it not?

The summer holidays can give the target audience time to explore options

If you sell complex services/products, software, consulting, or other solutions with long decision-making processes, it typically takes months from the first interest to a signed agreement.

That is why it is rarely the case that a potential customer sees an ad and signs a contract the following week.

And here, the summer period can actually be an ideal opportunity for your customers to explore options, gain an overview, and gather input.

Perhaps the sales director finally reads the article that has been buried among 117 unread emails. Or perhaps a project team starts researching the market so they are ready to make decisions after the holidays.

This does not mean that summer is necessarily a goldmine for lead generation. But the buyer journey continues, even if the pace slows down.

Is anyone there to answer the phone?

When companies consider scaling back advertising, the discussion is often reduced to a marketing question. But it is just as much a question of sales and capacity.

If the people who normally follow up on enquiries are on holiday for several weeks, it is worth considering whether advertising should have the same objectives as the rest of the year.

Because what is the value of more enquiries if no one is able to respond to them?

This is also one of the reasons why there is no single correct answer to the question of summer advertising.

Companies with a fully staffed sales organisation are in a different situation than companies where half the organisation is on holiday.

Competitors often take more time off than the target audience

There is also another perspective: Many advertisers reduce their advertising budgets over the summer.

This often means less competition for attention.

In some cases, it can lead to lower cost per click and cheaper impressions. In other cases, it simply means your messages get more space.

It is not a guarantee, and the trend varies from channel to channel and industry to industry, but it is worth factoring into the equation.

Because if your target audience is still active while competitors are less visible, summer can be an opportunity rather than a challenge.

When does it make sense to scale back?

Although we will generally be cautious about automatically pausing advertising, there are situations where it makes good sense to reduce the budget.

This may be relevant, for example, if:

There is no one to handle the enquiries.
Historical data shows significantly lower activity in the target audience.
The campaigns primarily focus on quick conversions here and now.

The point is that the decision should be made based on your buyer journey, data, business goals, and capacity during the period in question—not because the calendar says July.