While summer is a great time for people to take vacations and get out of the office, a recent USA Today article by Laura Abrams notes summer

Mindy Sanderson

can also bring fewer people calling, coming through the door or clicking on your company’s website. During a time when your customer traffic and sales may already be slowed by a sluggish economy, you may not be looking forward to the slow summer months.

Abrams offers some great tips you can implement in the next few months to help your small business stay visible to potential and existing customers. A few tips include:

• Develop your fall marketing plan. Be ready to hit the ground running when your customers are ready to start buying again. Figure out your strategy; work on your marketing materials; line up trade shows, sales calls, and advertising. Beat your competition to the best prospects after Labor Day.
• Hire a summer intern. They’d be great to help you with your social networking. After all, they’re tweeting all the time. And no, it’s not too late to find a good intern — especially with so many college students still looking for work. Remember — legally, interns have to be paid unless they are getting school credit. So check with local colleges or pay at least minimum wage.
• Take on a project you keep delaying. We all have a “wish list” of projects we’d like to take care of some day. Summer’s a good time to take care of at least one.

Click here to see her full list of tips.

In addition to the useful insight Abrams shares, here are some thoughts that I have that may help your small business survive the dog days of summer.

• Get involved! Every summer, local communities have different events and festivals that are a great opportunity for your small businesses to meet potential new customers.  Look into sponsorships, having a booth where you can display your products or services, or pass out promotional items such as free t-shirts or hats.  Getting out there and networking is extremely valuable to building your company awareness.
• Summer offers. Send out a special summer offer to boost business – or send good customers/clients a small gift of appreciation.  Make sure that your business is top of mind and your information is always within reach. Remember, it is more expensive to acquire new customers than to retain the ones you currently have.
• Host an event. As I have discussed before, hosting a class or event can be a great way to generate business, and what better time to experiment then during the summer. Think about the different businesses in the area. Do they offer complementary services?  Consider partnering with them to host an event for clients or the local community.  For example, if you work with pets, you can work with local veterinarian, pet supply stores, photographers, etc. to have a pet day in the local park.

While summertime may be a slow few months, it is crucial that you do not stop marketing!  Many small businesses make the mistake of cutting back on their marketing efforts during slow months, which can hurt keep your company name top of mind with existing (and potential) customers.

What is your small business doing this summer to help keep your brand awareness?