9 Summertime Niche Ballot Ideas

by Julie Foley Second Street

Barbecue & Grilling

Summer is the most popular time for outdoor parties and weekend barbecues, so a best of barbecue ballot could be the perfect fit. Depending on your goals or your advertisers, you could offer a variety of categories such as best BBQ grill, favorite food to grill, and best drinks of summer.

barbecue grilling ballot

Travel & Vacation

It’s no surprise summer is a big time for travel. That means it’s also a big month for travel advertisers looking to get in front of prospective consumers. A ballot about favorite vacation destinations or a Best of Travel ballot with categories for top airlines, hotels, or rental car companies could be a hit with your audience and your advertisers.

Travel Ballot

Fourth of July

Holidays are always great to leverage for promotions. Create a ballot all about Fourth of July in your community. You can celebrate the best fireworks displays, best parades or patriotic events, and best songs for your Fourth of July soundtrack.

Best Fireworks Ballot WLRW

Summer Movies & Music

Summer is known for being a season of fantastic movies and hit songs. A ballot like the Songs of Summer or the Best Summer Blockbusters could be enjoyed by a wide audience and potentially be repurposed into content for your site.

WTTS song of the summer ballot

Local Attraction

Along with a general travel and vacation ballot, you can create a ballot specific to one attraction or theme park. From best rides, best accommodations, best entertainment, and best foods, you can create an entire ballot all about one attraction.

disney travel ballot

Family Favorites

With summer break in full swing, this is the perfect time to run a ballot all about the top family businesses and attractions in your community. You can include categories like best daycare, best children’s clothing store, or even best kid’s menu. With parents anxious for ideas to keep their kids busy over summer, they’ll be more than happy to have a list of top businesses to try out.

style weekly family ballot

Summer Foods

Summer comes with a ton of seasonal-specific treats! Try a ballot of ice cream truck favorites or let local restaurant duke it out with their best summer dishes.

Now Magazine Best Dish Ballot

Fairs & Festivals

This is a popular season for regional fairs and festivals. Drum up excitement (and data!) about your event by creating a Best of the Fair ballot. You can identify what events attendees are most looking forward to, see what their favorite fair foods are, and find out which band or entertainer will bring the biggest crowd.

fair ballot

Best of Summer

Or, you can run a Best of Summer ballot including all of these categories and more! These are great for driving engagement, creating timely content, and are also perfect opportunities for advertisers.

Detroit Best of Summer Ballot

This summer, make sure to make ballots a part of your promotions lineup. With so many great ideas, you can use ballots to make this summer a great time for engagement and revenue.

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