We’re right in the thick of another summer season and for small businesses, that can mean many things.

Over the past 16 years working across many, many industries I’ve experienced first-hand the ebbs and flows of seasonality trends.

Summers in many industries mean a boon – peak demand, peak sales – peak everything, really.

For others, there’s a natural slow down in organic demand from late June to August.

It’s not hard to logically put together — July is typically the peak family vacation month in the US, following along with the usual summer school break.

For industries that market to families – especially in the local home services categories – can expect a typical slow down in organic demand as their core audience is otherwise occupied or away from home.

While these trends affect more than just local industries (I’ve seen it across many business-to-business – B2B – industries as well), seasonality is something that presents both challenges and opportunities.

Many of the best small business clients are well aware of their seasons – but they generally stay quite busy even when demand dips.

How?

Consistency.

I mention how important consistency is in building trust, but it’s especially important even during so-called “slow seasons”.

Only showing up when you need something from your audience, means that your connections are somewhat superficial.

If you really want to build relationships with your audience, finding ways of staying consistent with your digital marketing efforts can help you stand out, even while interest in your services may not be at “peak” levels, so to speak.

Building While Others Slow Down Gives You An Edge (And Creates Opportunities)

Something that I often notice is small businesses effectively “shutting off” or “pausing” their digital activities during so-called “slow seasons”.

While this may seem efficient, it also means that they’ll have to “cold start” their marketing ahead of their regular peak seasons.

For some, this may seem logical and they may shut down as well.

For others (many of my clients) this represents an opportunity to get (and stay) ahead of others that disappear when they don’t need anything.

Many folks will also know that during peak demand seasons means it’s harder to get projects or services in some cases – so they wait until “off-peak” seasons to request services.

These are opportunities that can easily be missed if you disappear during those times of year.

Strengthening Positioning (And Planting Seeds) Ahead Of Peak Season

Something I’ve seen time and time again – folks stop planting seeds (pausing all activity) and they get surprised when the harvest gets smaller each season.

There are few guarantees in the world of digital marketing or small business — but one of those guarantees is that if you turn off your marketing, it lowers your chances of being in the right places – at the right times – when opportunities present themselves.

Pausing also means slowing momentum, and losing opportunities to strengthen your positioning (in search and social) when those peak seasons come back into view.

Anticipating Seasonality & Keeping Your Long-Term Plan In Mind

As mentioned above, many of my clients stay busy throughout the year – they understand their seasons completely and we work to keep them booked throughout their so-called “slow” demand season.

A big reason for this they keep their long-term plan for their small business in place – they understand the value of strengthening positioning throughout the year.