Why August is the best month to do marketing?

Many of us think that August is a dead month in SMEs, a month in which work does not abound. A month in which it is sometimes better to close and wait until September arrives and sales are reactivated. A month in which it is better to send people on vacation, saving costs and having staff active the rest of the year, without having to take vacations in periods when the activity is longer and we need our “productive resources”. From my point of view, this is a valid and respectable option, but let me tell you that I think it is a mistake and let me tell you why.

During the month of August, the sales decrease and the productive capacity decreases, it is the month in which we leave before home in those hours in which the heat makes it difficult to be in an office working, and in which the desire asks us more being in the pool or on the beach than in the office, is perhaps the best month of the year to do marketing. Or rather not to do, but to prepare everything we are going to do in the last months of the year.

With September around the corner, August gives us the opportunity to think, analyze and reflect on whether our marketing strategies are being right, if we are approaching our audience as we should do and if we offer them what they need. But not only allows us to think, but also allows us to prepare actions for the last quarter of the year and thus make better use of all actions.

Let’s give some examples:

If we are thinking about taking “back to school” and launching a special offer in September, August is the special month to prepare everything: email creatives, selection of databases, preparation of shipments, search for suppliers, etc. So when September 1 arrives, we will be ready to launch the campaign and we will not have to spend extra time. We can focus on selling and generating value for our company, having left the promotional work already done and ready to send.

Another recurring example are social networks. Imagine that we still do not have presence in them (something complicated at this point, but possible) or that we want to enhance our presence. This is the best month we can devote to studying how each of them works, to open profiles, to find followers and start experimenting, so that when September arrives, although our networks are still “in their infancy”, we already have a base built and do not start from scratch.

Another good example is that of the website. Many times we start web pages and we forget that we have them, we put the address in our email signatures, in the business cards, but we do not think if they are outdated, if what counts is no longer true or if they are unpossessed. August can be a good month to devote a special attention, and take a critical eye, compare them with those of the competition, try to see such on that Smartphone that we just bought or start a web analytics system (google analytics It is free and fulfills the function very well) to know where the visits come from or how long they stay on our website.

But it is not all online marketing, we can also use this month to do strategy, to analyze if the decisions we have made have been correct and in the case of not having been, what we have to do to correct them. August is a good month to start thinking about the plan for next year, because if we leave it for September, next year it will be on us without giving us time to react.

Anyway, do not think that August is a lost month, let’s think it is a month to invest, invest in time for our company, invest in analyzing results, invest in finding solutions, in studying the competition and ultimately, in working for get new customers and retain those we already have.

The good news is that many of these things we can do from a lounger in the pool, or sitting in a beach bar.