via ThriveHive
August is a great time to round up your summer marketing efforts to prepare and plan for the fall. But without any major holidays, a lot of business owners struggle trying to figure out what to write about on their blog and what to post on social media. If you need some ideas for your marketing, social media, and blog content, we’ve got the answers! Here are some fresh ideas to round out your summer marketing in August!
1. Optimize Your Google My Business Profile
Your Google My Business profile appears in Google Maps search results as well as local results for regular Google searches. It’s also the Knowledge Panel that displays on the right-hand side of a results page when someone searches your business. Make sure your Google My Business profile is optimized for August with:
- Summer-themed Google posts
- Questions and answers about relevant topics (Do you serve dairy-free ice cream?)
- Updated summer hours
- Photos of your summer-themed or seasonal products/services
2. Family Fun Month
August signifies the last few weeks of summer before children return to school. Encourage family relationship building by promoting family activities throughout the month of August that are related to your business. Hold special family-appropriate events at your business throughout the month to support families spending fun time together. If you maintain a blog, compile a list of ideas for local family-friendly places to bond.
3. National Golf Month
Improve business relations by inviting clients to the course to play a round of golf. Golf is a notoriously great way to connect and create potential business leads for any industry. Golf is a sport that can be fun for any skill set, so regardless of your level of expertise, it can be an enjoyable time.
This is a perfect holiday for fitness establishments as they can use it to motivate their members to get outside and get active. One idea to take advantage of this national holiday is to give away free branded golf accessories, like golf balls or tees. Not only does this indirectly advertise your business when customers use them, but it’s a nice way to give back to your customers with a useful gift.
4. Simplify Your Life Week (August 1st-7th)
The beginning of fall is a hectic time with the start of a new school year. Simplify Your Life Week is a perfect time to get your business organized for the upcoming chaos. For starters, use this time to get your business in check and your workplace organized in preparation for fall. In addition, there are a variety of businesses that would benefit from promoting their services during the time.
In particular, interior designers and personal organizers should promote this time to their clients. Send out an email newsletter with your top organizing tips, or write a blogpost doing the same. Another way to take advantage of this week is to post on social media a daily organizing tip. Encourage your clients to step back and take a look around them, so they won’t be overwhelmed and bogged down later on (like when back to school season is underway.)
Related: Free Summer Marketing Guide
4. Friendship Day (August 2nd)
One of the best ways to find business is from your current customers! Take advantage of their raving reviews and referrals on National Friendship Day. Hold a promotion for customers that bring in their friends on this day. Offer incentives to both parties for participating, whether it’s a discount or a freebie, anything offer is enticing.
5. National Relaxation Day (August 15th)
Spas and salons can use this holiday to offer special beauty treatment deals to unwind from daily stress. Other types of businesses can offer special relaxing promotions on this day as well. For example, restaurants can give out free drinks, while fitness centers can hold special yoga and meditation classes. If you work at a spa or yoga center, partner up with other companies to arrange for a day of in-office relaxation. This will help you improve the reach of your company and get new clients!
Although you can take advantage of this day to engage customers, it’s also important to allow your staff to relax as well. Close up shop early after promoting relaxation to allow employees to enjoy some hard-earned rest.
Motivate your social media followers to take a step back from the daily chaos and take some time to themselves as well. Whether this means using your services or not, customers will appreciate the personal approach in encouraging taking time to rest.
6. World Humanitarian Day (August 19th)
The purpose of World Humanitarian Day is to recognize those that lost their lives working for humanitarian causes. Use this day to not only donate your time or money to an important charity, but to encourage your customers to do the same. Pay it forward to your local community, and share with your customers how they can contribute as well. Post on social media about your favorite cause and why it’s important to you. The day is all about giving back, so there’s no limit to your effort.
7. Senior Citizens Day (August 21st)
While some businesses offer year-round discounts to senior citizens, senior citizens deserve their own special day. Honor the older folks with discounted or free services, they deserve it! Contact local senior centers and find out if you can sponsor an event or stop by with catering or manicures to brighten up someone’s day. It’s important to remember that when marketing for an event targeted at this demographic, try to stick to offline marketing, as most senior citizens don’t use social media. (Or check out our post on How to Market to an Older Demographic)
8. State Fair Season
Many state fairs are held in August, stretching through the early fall. These are a great way to market your business and services by setting up a booth. Thousands of people flock to state fairs, sometimes from across the country! If your state fair is coming up soon, find out how you can make an appearance.
While there are many fairs taking place in August (Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming), many are scheduled later on for the fall so use this time instead to get on the list of vendors and plan your approach.
9. Plan for Labor Day
Start gearing up for Labor Day toward the end of the month. Labor Day is a big end-of-summer holiday that many businesses take advantage of. It’s important to participate in the frenzy with sales during this time. Start marketing for your specific promotions at the end of August to increase excitement and ensure that everyone knows to support your business then.
Need help creating promotions for Labor Day? Try running an Instagram giveaway or contest promoting an in-store special or new product.
10. Back to School
Like Labor Day, Back to School sales are an American tradition. Even if you think your business isn’t directly student- or school-related, there are still plenty of ways to get in on the action. For example, salons can offer special deals for back to school haircuts. Of course, this time is especially crucial for childcare centers or extracurricular academic institutions to prepare for the start of the year. Businesses offering after school activities can offer early bird registration for their classes.
It’s important to remember not to exclude parents in your marketing efforts. Although a new school year is a big and exciting change for children, their parents are affected in the change of schedule as well. Once kids are back in school, parents have more time for themselves during the day. Salons and spas can offer deals on beauty treatments parents might need after a long summer with the kids. Personal trainers or fitness centers can offer discount packages on their exercise services. Healthcare businesses, like dentists or nutritionists, can promote healthy lunch ideas.
One way to engage parents is to reach out to current customers who might have been busy over the summer and offer them a returning client special. This is a great way to show customer appreciation and retain existing customers.
