In my last post I urged you to take advantage of the annual Summer Slowdown’s golden opportunities – and get proactive with your marketing.
Perhaps, however, you’re not in a position to cash-in on that valuable advice. At least not to the full extent I recommended. And hey, that’s cool (I mean, my feelings are a little hurt bit, but we’re still good;-).
Maybe some MUCH NEEDED R’n’R is at the very top of your Summer To Do List. Or maybe, for whatever reason, marketing-proactivity just isn’t in the cards for you this summer slowdown.
I get it, every business’s situation is different. But there is a difference between proactivity and backsliding. And considering all the hard work you’ve invested in marketing + growing your biz, you CERTAINLY don’t want to lose any hard-won territory.
Unfortunately for many, amid the summer slowdown, that’s EXACTLY what happens…
-One beautiful day stacks up after the other.
-Family, friends, colleagues and clients embark on their respective vacations.
-Business starts to dwindle.
-And before you know it, you’re staring out the window, California dreamin’ — and three months have disappeared.
If you’re like most small business owners, that’s the LAST realization you want to dawn upon you.
To make sure you do lose another summer, here are three of the most common pitfalls, and how to avoid them…
Taking Your Foot Off The Gas + Losing Focus
When you take a gander at Facebook see you five best friends posting their uber-fab vacation pix from Bora Bora, and points beyond (have garnered a collective 27,000+ Likes), it’s hard NOT to beat feet out your office door.
Of course you deserve a vacation, too. And with some careful planning, you can have one. Guilt and income loss free.
But in the meantime, it’s critical to keep your eyes on the prize. Successful prospecting, lead generation and conversion (finding new clients, reeling them in, and closing the sale) requires constant attention.
So Stay Focused and don’t let the summer slowdown, and its oft accompanying malaise, derail your business or your marketing efforts.
Cutting Back Your Marketing Budget (Time, Effort + Funding)
With fewer clients and prospects funneling through your door amid the summer slowdown, it’s oh so tempting to ease back on the time and money you invest in marketing.
Cutbacks only seem logical, right?
WRONG!
Retracting your reach among an already depleted active client and prospect pool only serves to further reduce your lead generation and conversion rates. Which is just fancy marketing speak for saying: Summer slowdown-borne cutbacks result in even fewer prospects AND close even fewer sales (which adds up to less cash in your coffers).
So rather than saving time and money, you wind up crushing lead gen + sales during an already slow period.
The most prudent response to the dreaded summer slowdown? Invest more time and capital into your marketing efforts. Your spend per new and returning client is likely to be higher than average.
But lower profit margins are far better than NO profit margins.
Relying on The Same Old Marketing Measures
Your normal marketing approach may not yield the same results whilst your clients and prospects are observing so-called “summer hours.”
For Example… Let’s say email is typically your most active marketing channel. Meanwhile your vacation-bound, beachside lounging, Mai Tai swilling clients and prospects are avoiding their collective inboxes like Outlook is a mummy’s cursed tomb.
In turn, your email marketing response rates are destine to plummet (like and Iron Blimp).
Alternatively, now may be the perfect time to launch or ramp up a social media marketing campaign. With social media and smartphones insidiously woven into our daily lives, social campaigns can reach clients and prospects at moments and in places other channels are typically locked out of.
Of course this is just one example. Every business is different. What makes sense for your business depends upon your particular circumstances.
The point is, don’t resign to relying on “tried and true” methods amidst the summer slowdown – a time when such methods more often than not prove genuinely unproductive, no matter how well-tried.
What Are Your Summer Marketing Plans?
What marketing campaigns are on the horizon for your business this summer? Stop by my Google+ page and share your summer marketing agenda.