While your competitors are taking summer vacations and kicking back, August gives you the opportunity to stand apart with new marketing, planning and strategizing about the rest of the year.

• Just as business might be slow for you in August, it might also be slow for your customers. Take the initiative to reach out to them and meet for lunch, deepen the relationship and learn more about their businesses.
   
• Use downtime to refine your marketing plan:
   
• What are your goals?
• What is your message?
• What new product or service will you introduce?
• What new customer segment will you target?
• What new marketing tools will you use?
• What current marketing tools will you improve?
   
• Social media requires thought and planning so that it becomes an effective complementary tool to your sales efforts. What's your strategy?
   
• Study your competitors' websites, internet presence and marketing material to find out what they do well and where you're able to stand out.
   
• Give thought to using an email newsletter to stay in touch with your audience -- a cost-efficient way to stay top-of-mind of people who don't need your business now, but might in the future.  It's also ideal for staying in touch with referral sources.
   
• If you're a retailer, identify layout, adjacencies, signage and upselling opportunities.
   
• A Google AdWords campaign could lead to an increase in phone calls from prospects seeking your services.  Explore this complex, yet powerful tool.

Many of these tasks can be accomplished in your downtime. While vacations are crucial to maintain balance in life, giving serious thought to your marketing is crucial to the success and growth of your business.  Pour yourself a tall cool drink and treat yourself to an afternoon retreat to improve your marketing!

What will you do in August?

Learn from a Valuable and FREE Webinar

If you missed the webinar on How to Grow Your Business With Email Marketing,

you can view it now.  Once you're on the page, select "Watch Online."

 I had the opportunity to attend David's webinar and thought it was very informative and helpful in identifying and avoiding common messaging errors.  Emailing is a tricky thing, so I recommend spending some time with David before embarking on a campaign.

David Krippene, Business Development Associate at BroadReach Partners 7/13/11

To email me,

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Solutions for Growth is a marketing consulting firm that helps small businesses grow by increasing their sales through practical and achievable marketing tools.

Services include marketing advice and strategy, online and offline customer acquisition and retention tools (new and revised websites, email marketing, social media and printed material), sales development, retail layout and signage.