When everyone else goes QUIET… DON’T.
Why the summer slowdown can be a surprisingly good time to make yourself heard
If experience has taught us anything, it’s that August has a habit of being written off a little too quickly.
People are away, inboxes fill with out-of-office replies, meetings get pushed into September and there’s a general temptation to assume that nobody is really paying attention. Marketing gets eased back, campaigns are put on hold and businesses quietly decide they’ll pick everything up again when everyone is properly back at their desks.
We’ve never been entirely convinced by that approach.
There may be a few more empty chairs around, but no tumbleweed blows across our studio. Work continues, conversations continue and, importantly, audiences don’t simply disappear because somebody has packed a suitcase.
In fact, the quieter summer weeks can create an opportunity that’s easy to overlook.
Less noise can mean more attention
August may be quieter, but quieter isn’t the same as empty.
People still check LinkedIn. They still browse websites, read emails, look for suppliers and notice businesses that have something interesting or useful to say. If anything, with fewer meetings, fewer competing campaigns and a little less noise in the working day, there can be more space for a good piece of communication to land properly.
That’s the important bit.
Marketing doesn’t always need somebody to click, call or buy immediately to be doing its job. Sometimes it’s simply about being visible, useful and familiar, so that when a need does arise your name is already somewhere in the conversation.
And when a lot of businesses have gone noticeably quiet, staying present can make that job rather easier.
You don’t have to shout louder
One of the more curious things about summer marketing is that you often don’t need to do more to stand out. You simply need to keep doing good work while others ease off.
Social feeds become less crowded. Newsletters become less frequent. Blogs stop appearing. Campaigns that might have launched in August get postponed because somebody has decided September feels safer.
That naturally creates a little more breathing room for everybody else.
The answer isn’t to fill the gap with noise for noise’s sake. Nobody needs a daily reminder that your office is open. It’s about using the space intelligently: sharing an opinion, answering a useful question, showing a piece of work, talking about something you’ve learned or simply reminding people what you do and why you’re good at it.
Consistency has always mattered in marketing, and summer doesn’t change that.
September actually starts BEFORE September
There’s another reason we think August deserves a little more respect.
September has a habit of arriving with its elbows out.
Projects restart, campaigns suddenly become urgent, budgets come back into focus and the things that were politely parked before the holidays are immediately required by Friday.
Businesses that wait until September to start talking again are restarting at exactly the same time as everybody else.
Those that have remained visible through the summer are already moving.
They’ve kept conversations going, maintained a presence and stayed familiar. So when that first September meeting produces the inevitable question of who might be able to help with the next project, they have a much better chance of already being somewhere in the answer.
Marketing momentum, like most kinds of momentum, is much easier to maintain than recreate.
A good time to look at yourself
The summer slowdown can also provide something increasingly rare in business: a bit of space to think.
When things are busy, marketing naturally becomes focused on the next deadline. The website gets left alone because it still works. That brochure is probably fine. The case studies can wait. The services page still describes roughly what you do, even if the business has moved on considerably since it was written.
August can be a useful moment to look at all of that with a slightly fresher pair of eyes.
Does your website still represent the business you are today? Is your sales material current? Are your social channels actually showing the work you want more of? Are there areas of expertise your customers may never discover because you barely mention them?
Businesses know themselves extremely well, which can sometimes be part of the problem. Internal terminology feels obvious because you use it every day. Your service structure makes perfect sense because you built it. Your customers don’t have that advantage.
A little distance can expose all sorts of things that familiarity hides.
Good marketing still has to earn attention
Of course, none of this is an argument for flooding people with content simply because there’s a little less competition around.
Attention is valuable at any time of year, and good marketing should respect it.
One strong, genuinely useful article will usually do more than five forgettable posts. A well-considered campaign will outperform another generic sales email. A properly thought-through landing page, a good piece of creative or a refreshed bit of sales literature can all work harder than simply producing more stuff.
There’s enough stuff already.
The opportunity in August isn’t to make more noise. It’s to make better use of the quieter space around you.
Keep SHOWING UP!
After many years of working with businesses and organisations of every shape and size, we’ve learned that there is rarely a perfect time to market anything.
There will always be holidays, deadlines, uncertainty, budget pressures, busy periods, quiet periods and somebody suggesting that perhaps it would be better to wait another couple of weeks.
Sometimes waiting is sensible.
Disappearing usually isn’t.
The businesses people remember are generally the ones that continue to communicate clearly, consistently and confidently, whether it’s the middle of January or the first week of August.
So while things may feel a little quieter outside, they certainly aren’t quiet here.
No tumbleweed blows across our studio.
And if your marketing could do with a little more momentum before September arrives, we’d be very happy to talk.
Wodehouse Marketing
Strategy, creative, digital, print and direct marketing, thoughtfully delivered.
We love good design and aesthetics and don't feel it should cost the earth either. Across all areas of business and the charity sector Wodehouse have delighted our clients with graphic design, high quality print and direct mail solutions since 2003.