Summer is here – white shoes are now socially acceptable! But the traditional marketing slump is not. Unfortunately, the summertime can also be a slow season for many businesses as families pack up the SUV and head out for vacation. Here are some things you can do to be proactive during down time: 

• Ramp up marketing efforts and plot your future ones.

• Segment your database. Send out marketing pieces to a targeted audience. Perhaps offer existing customers a discount on a product or service, and offer new prospects a discount on first orders.

Clean up your database, and fill in any missing info on existing customers.

• Use social networking sites to reach out to your clients. For instance, ACT 2010 helps you organize all the details of your customer relationships in one place, and allows you to send an invitation to any of your contacts for Facebook, LinkedIn or any of the social sites at the click of a button.

• Develop a drip marketing campaign. Take this time to develop a good marketing campaign. Create one for existing clients, and another for prospective customers.

• Write some blog articles. Start writing articles now that can be posted later so that your blog will have a continuous flow throughout the year.

• Create some newsletters. Write them now and avoid the back-to-school / holiday rush. As preemptive as it may seem to write a holiday newsletter now, you’ll rejoice when you find that you have one less thing to do in the midst of the busy season!

• Sit back and relax. Everyone deserves a little time off to smell the roses! Play golf, go swimming or enjoy a hobby to refresh those creative marketing juices.

What kinds of things do you do (for biz) during the summer slump? Please share.