It goes without saying that 2020 is a year unlike any other. But despite the topsy-turviness of everything we thought we knew about how things work, I think one thing one thing will remain constant: in August, things slow down.

I think this year, August will still be a month of lots of out of office replies, slower business in many industries and lower website traffic for most of us.

The difference is that this year, more than previous years, so many business owners are genuinely looking forward to September. After months of homeschooling and having to run a business alongside educating, entertaining, snack dispensing and guilt over screen time, the promise of a return to school for children means we can (hopefully!) focus on our businesses once again.

So with the promise of some form of normality, this August we might be thinking of a different approach.

By all means, I think it is important to take a break, to have a change of scenery if possible, and to think about something other than the pandemic.

But what about if this year, instead of focusing on rest and recovery, we focus on preparation?

Small business marketing preparations in August

At the start of lockdown, my guide Good Marketing in Bad Times suggested things small businesses could do to strengthen their marketing foundations for when things return to some form of normality, for example revisit their strategy.

I think August is a great time to do the same. To look at your purpose - why you do what you do - and the groups of people with whom you want to connect will stand you in good stead when you plan your marketing for the end of the year.

But it is also a perfect opportunity to take stock of what you have and make improvements. This way, come September, you’re in a good position to focus on delivering products or services, rather than work out what you need to do to strengthen your marketing.

Here are a few things you can look at:

Make website improvements

• Look at your homepage through the lens of your ideal customer. Is it clear what you do and how you can help them?

• Check that you have calls to action to guide people through their journey with your products and services.

• Test your forms to make sure they work as they should.

• Test important links, like the ones to your social media properties.

• Do you need to update any content to reflect post-pandemic life?

Refresh your social media

• Is your bio clear about what you do? Does it appeal to your ideal audience?

• Do your profile and cover photos need a refresh?

• Take a look at your insights. What can you learn from the posts that did well and the ones that didn’t?

• Consider your 5 most recent posts. Is there something there for each of your target audiences?

• List all the places where you have a social media presence. Are you active on all those channels? Can you commit to steady and sustainable posting, engagement and growth? If not, consider getting rid of some of them so you can focus on the ones where you can have the biggest impact.

Strategic planning tips

• Plot your content ideas for the rest of the year. It could be helpful to theme each month around the mindset of your audience as well as what is happening in your business, e.g. September is “back to school” mindset so focus on teaching your audience something new, October is Halloween, November is the run-up to Christmas etc.

• Decide how much time you need to spend on your marketing to make it successful, and book that time in. By that I mean stick the time in your diary, whether it’s 20 minutes a day, a block of 2 hours a week or a day a month. Make the commitment to success, because we all know how easily everything else eats into marketing time!

A professional review of your marketing

This is the sales bit where I tell you about how I can help you if you don’t want to or can’t do these things yourself, or if you want a professional to help you.

The Goodness Marketing MOT is perfect if you want an objective outsider who knows marketing really well to give you a list of things to improve on your website or social media.

It’s ideal for small business owners who tend to work on their own and could do with professional input from someone who looks at their marketing with fresh and objective eyes.

I often find that business owners are well aware that they have blind spots - things they just can’t fix because they don’t know it is a problem. For example, if you don’t know the importance of optimised metadata on your webpages and think SEO is only about keywords, you might not know where to start to improve your search performance.

Well, the MOT might just uncover some solutions you hadn’t even considered before.

Results of a marketing audit

Earlier this year I completed an MOT for ethical stylist Camilla Cheung of Wardrobe Wellbeing, and she pointed out that as a solopreneur, she often feels isolated and consumed by working on her website with only her own ideas.

“It helped me drastically to have someone with such knowledge and understanding give me constructive feedback on my site,” said Camilla. “There were positives which gave me confidence in what I have been doing previously, but also key points for me to work on that could be actioned instantly.”

“Thank you Karen for being direct with your delivery, for understanding the needs of my business and helping me in developing them further. You have also told me things which I can implement in the future across any business which I may work on. Lifelong lessons.”

So if you also want some reassurance that what you’re doing is along the right lines, and if you want some pointers for more effective marketing that gets you better results, check out my Marketing MOTs.