By Cara Goodman, Owner of CEB Design Studio 

The snowbirds are heading home, the vacation rentals are filling up, and the beaches along the Forgotten Coast are about to get busy again. Tourist season on the Gulf Coast is not just a busy stretch of weeks — it is the financial engine that powers many local businesses through the rest of the year. For some shops, restaurants, and service providers between Port St. Joe and Carrabelle, what happens between now and Labor Day determines whether the year is a success or a struggle. Which means right now — before the rush arrives — is exactly the right time to take a hard look at your marketing and make sure you are ready to capture every opportunity that walks through your door, scrolls past your page, or searches for exactly what you offer. 

Here are five marketing fixes that can make a real difference this season. 

1. Update Your Google Business Profile 

When a visitor pulls into town and searches “best seafood in Apalachicola” or “gift shops near St. George Island,” Google Business Profile is what determines whether your name shows up — and whether they click on it. It is one of the most powerful free marketing tools available to any small business, and it is one of the most neglected. 

Before tourist season hits, log in and make sure everything is current. Check your hours — including any seasonal changes. Add fresh photos from inside your shop, your latest menu items, your team, or your space. Make sure your phone number, address, and website are correct. If you have not posted an update in months, write a short one today. Google rewards active profiles with better visibility, and better visibility means more customers finding you before they find your competition. 

This fix costs nothing but twenty minutes of your time, and the return can be significant. 

2. Freshen Up Your Social Media Presence 

Visitors research before they travel. They scroll Instagram looking for places that feel worth a stop. They check Facebook to see if a business is still open or to read what other guests thought. If your last post was from three months ago or your profile photo is a blurry image from 2019, you are losing customers before they ever arrive. 

You do not need to post every day or hire a social media manager. You need three things: a clear, professional profile photo or logo, a bio that tells people exactly what you do and where you are, and a handful of recent posts that show your space, your products, or your personality. Consistency matters more than volume. Two good posts a week through the summer will do more for your business than a burst of daily posts in June followed by silence in August. 

If you have been meaning to refresh your brand visuals — your logo, your colors, your overall look — tourist season is the best possible motivation to finally get it done. First impressions on social media happen in seconds, and a polished, cohesive look signals to a potential customer that you are the real deal. 

3. Make Sure Your Website Actually Works 

Pull up your website on your phone right now. Does it load quickly? Is it easy to read on a small screen? Can someone find your hours, your location, and your phone number within the first few seconds of landing on the page? 

If the answer to any of those questions is no, you have work to do before the season starts. The majority of visitors searching for local businesses are doing it from a mobile device — often while they are already in the car, already in town, already looking for somewhere to go right now. A website that is slow, hard to navigate, or missing basic information is not just unhelpful — it actively sends people to your competitors. 

At minimum, make sure your site is mobile-friendly, your contact information is visible on the homepage, and your hours are accurate. If your website has not been updated in years or was built using a template that no longer reflects your brand, this off-season is the time to address it. Your website is your storefront on the internet, and it is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It should look like it. 

4. Collect and Respond to Reviews 

Reviews are the new word of mouth. Before a visitor from Atlanta or Nashville decides where to eat dinner or which boutique to pop into, there is a very good chance they are reading what strangers said about your business online. A strong collection of recent, positive reviews on Google and Facebook builds the kind of trust that advertising alone cannot buy. 

The most effective way to get more reviews is also the simplest: ask. After a great interaction, tell your customer that it would mean the world if they left a quick review. Send a follow-up email to recent customers with a direct link to your Google review page. Put a small card on your counter or a note at the bottom of your receipt. Most happy customers are willing to leave a review — they just need the nudge. 

Equally important is responding to the reviews you already have. Thank the people who left kind words. Address any negative reviews calmly, professionally, and constructively. Potential customers read your responses just as closely as they read the reviews themselves, and a business that engages thoughtfully with feedback looks like a business that cares. 

5. Create a Simple Seasonal Promotion 

Visitors love a reason to feel like they found something special. A simple seasonal promotion — a limited-time offer, a summer package, a local discount for guests staying nearby — gives people a reason to choose you over the place down the street and a reason to act now rather than later. 

It does not have to be complicated. A restaurant might offer a “Forgotten Coast Sunset Special” on weekday evenings. A boutique might bundle a few signature items into a gift-ready summer package. A service business might offer a complimentary consultation for anyone who books before a certain date. The specifics matter far less than the feeling — that your business is alive, engaged, and offering something worth talking about. 

Once you have a promotion, make sure it lives somewhere people can find it. Put it on your Google Business Profile, post it on social media, add a banner to your website homepage. A promotion no one knows about is just a discount with no upside. 

The Bottom Line 

Tourist season along the Forgotten Coast is too short and too valuable to leave your marketing on autopilot. None of these five fixes require a large budget or a marketing degree — they require attention, intention, and a few hours of focused work before the season shifts into high gear. 

If you look at this list and feel overwhelmed by where to start, or if your brand visuals are overdue for a refresh before the summer rush arrives, that is exactly the kind of challenge we love to solve at CEB Design Studio. We work with local businesses across the Forgotten Coast to build brands, fix websites, and create marketing that actually brings customers in the door. 

The season is coming. Let’s make sure you are ready for it. 

CEB Design Studio is a graphic design and marketing firm serving businesses across the Forgotten Coast. Reach us at carab1203@gmail.com to schedule a free consultation.