Between vacations and long weekends Summer can easily become a “dead zone' for business. But don’t give up so easy! There are tons of things you can be doing during the summer to keep you business hot, and at the very least, prepped and ready for fall.
One of the biggest mistakes I often see service based small business owners and entrepreneurs make is allow their business to slow during the summer. Yes, of course, your business will naturally not be as high as peak months (unless if you are an ice cream store) but that is exactly why it’s the ideal time to take care of everything else you normally don’t have time to do. Below a list of how I use the months of July and August.
Fuel For Your Blog. My blog (A.K.A The endless pit of content) is very time consuming. Anyone who writes a blog will agree on two things: 1) Don’t start it unless you know you can handle the content creation 2) Create a system because having a blog is very time consuming. Every July and August I put aside several hours during the week (normally devoted to networking or business development) to sit down and write. By the end of the summer I expect to have 4 months worth of content or 32 blog posts. Then I automatically log them into my website and distribute them automatically. I won’t need to write again until December when, on Christmas Break, I generally write 2 months of content. Creating a system such as this one, using months you know will be slower than usual, is a great way to stay productive and unload part of your calendar.
Marketing Mania. Summer months are also ideal to revisit your marketing plan. Remember that plan you made back in January? Take advantage of being half-way there to readjust some of your goals. Have you met your quarter goals? Are you on track with your marketing? Have you gone back to assess some of the data from the promotions you have run? Take the time to find out what worked and what didn’t and tweak your Quarter 4 plans for the fall. Also, if you never made a marketing plan then now is the perfect time to do so. Reflect on the last six months of business and jot all marketing and promotions that worked. Then create a goal for Q4 (October – December) in terms of sales and business development. Where would you like your business to be by the end of December? Now create half-way goals in between. For example, If I want to accomplish $10,000 in sales by December then I need to figure out how many packages or clients (depending on your biz model and average sale) I need in order to meet my goal. Then start brainstorming marketing tactics to get to your goal i.e. email marketing, social media campaign, raffle, package launch, challenge, trade show or sponsorship opportunities etc.
It’s Powwow Time. Now, contrary to popular belief though many people travel during the summer most do it in intervals and only leave for 2-3 weeks at a time. Now, that might sound obvious but if you have ever visited Paris in August then you know that there are some cities that will entirely shut down for the month. The only pedestrians you will find in Parisian crosswalks in August are tourists. This means, that summer is also an ideal time to brush up on some strategic relationships you might not have time to keep up with during your busier months. Invite prospects and partners out for sunset cocktails or to your local fair. Either way warm weather is a great way to start building relationships beyond the icy “we should do business together” coffee date. Take the time to know your customers or partners and grow a relationship that will nurture your business longer than just a quick sale.
Have ideas or questions about other ways to use Summer months to keep your business hot and ready for fall? Email us at [email protected] !
