Don’t stop Marketing for the summer

Have you stopped marketing over the summer?

Every year the same old reasons for not doing any marketing over the summer are rolled out by business owners, both large and small:

1. Everyone’s away for the summer.
2. Nobody makes any decisions over the summer
3. There’s no point in doing any marketing over the summer

Let’s have a look at these in more detail and see why you don’t stop marketing over the summer (or any other holiday period)…

The numbers

There are 42.3 million people of working age in the UK (removing those under 18, in education and of pensionable age). There are 5.5 million businesses in the UK, of all sizes. Let’s keep the maths simple and assume one decision maker per company, so 5.5 million decision makers.

The school holidays are six weeks long (give or take a day or two). Most people try and spread their holidays through the year, so will have two in the summer and the rest another time.

If 42.3 million people have two weeks off in the summer, there are still 4 weeks where they are at work. At any one time, that means there are still over 28 million people in work.

During this period, they will have problems they need solving:

• Their IT and telephones will have problems.
• Some companies have their year end at the end of June, July or August, so will need accounts doing.
• Many companies will refurbish their offices “whilst everyone is on holiday(!)”
• and some may even look to change their marketing consultant… (call us on 020 8634 5911 if you’re one of these!)

The whole country is not like Vauxhall’s Luton plant where everyone is off for the last two weeks in August. The UK isn’t Paris (not 2024 of course), that does apparently empty during August (leaves more room for the tourists).

Is 2024 a special year?

Many of the political uncertainties that have been around for at least the first half of 2024. Lots of companies were holding back on decisions because they didn’t know how the political landscape was going to shape up. At the beginning of the year, we all knew there would be a general election this year, but we didn’t know when. Now that’s happened and we have a new government that has already told us much of what they are planning.

Shares in house building companies rose as much as 11% the day after the election and Wes Streeting has already met with the junior doctor’s union.  Whilst this is still very early days, lots of positive noises are being made and businesses are starting planning.

Summer is a time for planning

When it is quieter, it is a great time for planning. Many business owners use the time to plan for Q4 and for early 2025. They’re making plans that may not involve you if they aren’t seeing your marketing messages just before or during their planning time.

What happens when people get back from their summer holidays?

Now let’s think about when people “return” in September. All of a sudden they are looking for help with all the issues they didn’t resolve over the summer. Who are they going to use?

1. Their usual supplier, even if they haven’t been doing that good a job (wouldn’t be an issue if they had been)?
2. The company they’ve never heard of who first contacts them on September 1st, or
3. The company who has been communicating with them for the last few weeks or months, perhaps sharing useful information and case studies, showing they understand that prospect?

Maintain your marketing activity

By maintaining your marketing activity throughout the year, you are doing 4 things:

1. Developing and maintaining brand awareness, so that prospects recognise your company name when you pick up the phone.
2. Demonstrating you can deliver consistently. If you can deliver a regular stream of marketing activity, it’s likely you can deliver consistently throughout the business.
3. Showing your target audience that they are important to you and that you want their business.
4. Keeping your company in the backs of their minds, so when they do decide to look to the market for a supplier of what you sell, you are highly likely to be one of those they talk to.

Every day we are all exposed to 1,000’s of messages. There is only so much room in our heads for all those messages. Some we will automatically filter out, simply because they are never going to be relevant. Others will be pushed out, simply because we run out of storage space. If you aren’t replacing and reinforcing your messages in the minds of your target audience, you run the risk of them forgetting about you just at the time they decide they need what you sell. If your competitors have been making lots of noise over the summer, guess who they will be talking to.

What next?

Put very simply – don’t stop marketing! If you’re reading this in July, it is probably best to simply do more of what you have been doing up to now. If it is earlier in the year, have a think about what you can do.  Of course, if you would like some help and support making sure you don’t stop marketing over the summer (or any other peak holiday period). Call us on 020 8634 5911 and let’s arrange a time to talk.