A lot of businesses, ours included, tend to get slammed in the Fall. People are back from summer vacation, ready to get into gear and finish out the year strong. As such, a lot of projects and initiatives that were on hold over the summer get the go-ahead around September/October. Businesses also tend to take a peek at their summer income statements and decide that the Fall is a great time to kick their marketing efforts back into gear.

There are distinct advantages to marketing ahead of the Fall rush. These include:

• Vendor attention.
  The people that help you with your marketing (like Apis) tend to have lessened workloads themselves over the summer months. As such, they may be in a better position to give you extra care and attention. You will also be much more likely to have your project start sooner rather than later.
• Cost advantages.
  While your competitors are out sunning themselves at the beach, their marketing efforts may be idling. As such, advertising costs can be significantly lower during this time. Less competition for traditional advertising space (e.g. magazines, billboards) and online advertising (e.g. pay-per-click ads) will stretch your marketing budget much further.
• Top of mind.
  When you're the first one out of the gates for the busy Fall season, you capture the most attention from prospective customers. Just as workload tends to ramp up in the Fall, so does interest in your products and services. Be the early bird. Get the worm.

With regards to online marketing, here are a couple of strategies you could consider taking advantage of:

• Pay-per-click advertising
  Run simple ads within search engine results. People search for a term related to what you sell, your ad shows. They click the ad to visit your website. The click costs tend to be lower during the summer months.
• Link building
  Link building is an extremely effective method for improving how your website ranks in the search engines. Acting now while your competitors are snoozing can help you leapfrog their site in the rankings, and keep the lead.

Apis can help you plan and execute your online marketing strategy, so don't hesitate to contact us.

This year, consider starting your Fall marketing push a bit earlier. It could serve you well.