August. It’s upon us (image by jurvetson)… The dead of summer, often known as the “Dog Days.”
Business slows down. Campaigns are put on hold. The world seems to take a deep breath, resting before the mad rush of business from Labor Day through Thanksgiving.
August can deliver more than that.
The word august finds its roots in the word augustus (you know, that emperor that followed Julius?), a word that means sacred or grand. In that vein, august means venerable or eminent.
Similarly, companies and bloggers that choose to ignore the smaller audiences during the August vacation period, and decide to proactively market have an opportunity to generate unusual traction. They can become august in their positioning by exploiting an unusual lack of marketplace noise.
Last summer many bloggers took a break. Other newer, hungrier bloggers like Valeria Maltoni and myself kept blogging through it. While traffic remained flat in August, if you consider the amount of people on vacation, it was actually increasing… And RSS subscribership proved it.
In other facets of marketing, similar results can be achieved. Influencer relations campaigns can leverage the relative lack of stories. In some cases, the stories may not reach full impact until September by the time the media finishes coverage. I’ve had several campaigns that were waged in August with outstanding coverage results in September.
Slow is a mindset, and while there may be vacations, there are also opportunities. So what’s it going to be: August or august?
Word roots are fascinating. One other thought to consider is that when things slow down, it is easier to see the bigger picture for yourself. Are you aligning with where you’d like to go next? What kind of ideas and activities can you try in this relatively quiet moment? Many businesses have lost the ability to improvise and try new things. Benchmarking has almost paralyzed others. How can you break through the pack in a way that is meaningful to your customers and true to your brand?
Absolutely, Valeria. Slow periods do not mean loaf periods for the driven or winners, they are times to reflect and retool!
I will second that on the word-root-front… just ask my friends, I am a Latin nut :) Major props Geoff for busting out the root of Augustus, -i (m). There is also a female version of the word, Augusta, -ae (f), meaning “female relative of the Roman emperor , or town named after him.” Lastly, the adverbial form is actually auguste, which translates roughly to “reverently.”
I could keep going, but on another note…
As for those of us in the political arena, things are just starting to heat up with the conventions and elections on the horizon… I am very interested to see how this impacts overall (1) online traffic [people coming online for the first time, non-power-user types], (2) overall blogger activity and (3) specific activity from non-political bloggers. While things normally slow down, I am wondering if political participation and curiosity in fact helps push some — if not all — of us over this hump. I know I will be kicking it up a notch on Twitter and a little on the blog front. I am excited to see others do the same — hopefully a new twist on civic participation. Also, many of my friends and colleagues are credentialed bloggers at both conventions, which means they will be extra active as well.
Enjoyed the august August reflection. Claude Debussy is quoted as saying that ” Music is the space between the notes”. I’d like to expand that to “Life is the space between the notes”. Neither music nor our lives *sing” w/o it. (twitter Meryl333)
I took Latin in high school, so loved the etymology.
Great point. When others are slow, it’s time to be digging down, prepping for winter.
Good marketing is thinking 3-6 months in advance. It’s that old grasshopper/ant story, right?
Invest in August and reap in Jan/Feb, when everyone else is cold and asking, where’s our business? No one remembers the August slowdown then.
and thanks for the link to candles-delight