It’s unbelievable to me how fast this summer went by. It seems like only last week I was reading all of the graduation stories in the local paper. But alas, fall is upon us. The temperature is cooler and there are even trees starting to turn yellow and brown.  Oddly enough, the premature-coloring is from the lack of rainfall in the region and not the changing season. For those of you in the warmer regions of the country check out this amazing video on the changing seasons.

The new season is a good time to get reenergized about your marketing. Many BtoB marketers put programs on hold during the summer because too many people are sitting on the beach or driving their R/V’s across the country. But now the kids are going back to school and vacations are over, so there are no excuses.

I think there must be some psychological transformation that goes on inside us when the seasons change. Sort of like spring fever, but instead of slacking off, we feel like getting things done. For me it’s evident in the marketing and creative meetings. People want to get going on projects that have remained stagnant through the summer. Or, start working on initiatives that are just ideas and not reality.

From a sales perspective, now is a great time to dust off your database and start to reconnect with your clients and prospects. Think about an approach you haven’t tried before. Try something new, something fresh, something unexpected. Gosh, I love that word, “unexpected”. I suppose it has a negative connotation for most, but in marketing it can be the silver bullet your campaign needs.

We’re all about the unexpected here. Our entire business was founded on the idea of marketing to your prospects in an unexpected and exciting way. After all, who expects something to pop-open and jump out at them when they open a seemingly innocent looking envelope? Who expects to find a huge poster-sized picture automatically fold open as they leisurely thumb through a magazine?

Since I have been with Structural Graphics the unexpected has taken on a whole new meaning. It’s no longer the strange phone call you get from a sibling in the middle of the night; or a messy surprise that falls from the sky and hits you on the head as you walk in the park. The unexpected is now cool, exciting, different and fun.

So this Fall, as the leaves start to pile up on the ground and the day light fades earlier and earlier into the western sky, it will all be very expected. It’s been happening for billions of years. Similarly, as long as there has been marketing, people have come to expect the normal, the predictable and the average.  What a great season to be the unexpected.