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Written by: Joel Crampton
Summer is the time to review the first half of the year, reset priorities, and build the campaigns that will create momentum after Labor Day.
If your firm waits until September to plan the fall push, you're not starting late, you're starting behind.
ONE BIG IDEA — Summer Is Planning Season, Not Dead Time
Q3 starts next week, and that makes NOW a useful marketing checkpoint for your firm.
The first half of the year is evidence. You have real activity, real numbers, and real signs of what's working, what's dragging, and what still needs attention.
Start With What You Know
Before adding more activity, look back at the first half of the year:
- What created real prospect conversations?
- What generated client or referral engagement?
- What felt busy but produced little value?
- What did you plan in January that still has not happened?
Don't Let Q3 Run on Autopilot
I know summer can feel slow. Clients are traveling, prospects are distracted, and calendars get harder to coordinate... and you're probably enjoying some of that down time too.
But that doesn't make summer the time for a marketing pause. It's the right time to build what you want to have ready for the after-summer push.
Use Q3 to Get Ready
This is the quarter to make decisions:
- Stop what's not working.
- Strengthen what's gaining traction.
- Start the bigger projects that need time to build.
That could mean a better website, a stronger CRM, a fall event campaign, a referral partner plan, a new lead magnet, or a cleaner follow-up process.
The firms that maximize their summer won't be scrambling after Labor Day. They will already have momentum.
ONE FRAMEWORK — Q3 Marketing Reset
Use this simple filter before you carry your Q2 marketing into Q3.
1. STOP
What should come off the calendar?
- Campaigns that aren't producing conversations
- Content that feels active but lacks purpose
- Events with no follow-up plan
2. STRENGTHEN
What's already working and deserves more support?
- A newsletter getting steady engagement
- A webinar or event topic that created interest
- A website resource attracting traffic
3. START
What bigger project needs to be built now so it is ready for the fall push?
- Website improvements
- CRM and nurture sequences
- Fall event campaigns
- Lead magnets or scorecards
- Better prospect follow-up
The goal is to choose the few moves that will make Q3 more intentional than Q2... or Q1... or 2025.
ONE RESOURCE — Marketing Rocks Swipe File
To help with your Q3 planning, I created a short guide called Marketing Rocks for Advisory Firms.
Even if your firm doesn't formally run on EOS, the discipline behind Rocks is useful for marketing. The idea is to choose 1-2 meaningful 90-day priorities, define what "done" looks like, assign an owner, and keep the work moving throughout the quarter.
The guide includes six sample Marketing Rocks built specifically for RIAs, wealth managers, and financial advisors:
- Define your ideal client and priority niche
- Clarify how you describe what you do
- Map your content to the client journey
- Build your marketing scorecard
- Track where your prospects come from
- Systematize referrals and centers of influence
Each Rock includes why it matters, how to make it SMART, and what the finished version should look like.
Use it before your Q3 planning meeting, or bring it into the meeting as a conversation starter.
ONE NEXT STEP — Block 60 Minutes for a Q2/Q3 Marketing Review
Before next week ends, schedule time to review your firm's marketing from the first half of the year.
Answer these five questions:
- What marketing activity created actual conversations?
- What did we keep doing mostly because it was already on the calendar?
- What big project from January still has not been addressed?
- What needs to be ready before the after-summer push?
- What is the one Q3 marketing rock that would create the most leverage?
Then make a decision. Assign an owner. Set a deadline. Decide what will be done by the end of July, August, and September.
Because a quarterly marketing plan doesn't need to be complicated, but it does need to be intentional.
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