Summer may be your busiest season, but it shouldn’t be the end of your marketing momentum. By the time Labour Day rolls around, you’ve collected months of valuable data, built relationships with new clients, generated fresh photos and reviews, and learned what marketing efforts actually drove bookings.
Businesses that keep growing into the fall aren’t necessarily the busiest during the summer. They’re the ones who take time to evaluate what worked, make strategic improvements, and prepare for the next season before everyone else does.
The weeks before summer officially ends are the perfect opportunity to refresh your website, update your online presence, review your marketing performance, and turn a successful season into long-term growth.
According to BrightLocal’s 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey, online reviews continue to be one of the most influential factors consumers consider when choosing a local business, making now the ideal time to request feedback while your service is still fresh in clients’ minds.
The industry’s outlook is equally encouraging. Pet Sitters International reports that 68% of its members expect their business revenues to increase in 2026, making this the perfect time to invest in the marketing and website improvements that will keep your business growing long after summer ends.
Request Reviews Before Summer Becomes a Distant Memory
Timing matters when it comes to earning reviews. The best time to ask is shortly after a client’s trip ends, when the experience is still fresh, and they’re thinking about the excellent care their pet received.
Waiting weeks or months often results in missed opportunities because life gets busy and the motivation to leave a review fades. A simple thank-you email with a direct review link can significantly increase your response rate. Those reviews don’t just strengthen your reputation; they also improve your local search visibility and give future pet parents the confidence to choose your business over the competition.
Replace Stock Images with Real Summer Photos
Summer is the perfect time to replace generic stock photos with images that showcase your actual business. If you’ve captured dogs on walks, cats during drop-in visits, or your team interacting with happy pets, use those photos on your website. Authentic images build trust by showing prospective clients exactly what to expect.
They also strengthen your brand identity and support the growing emphasis AI-powered search places on original, business-specific content. Updating your homepage, service pages, and testimonials with fresh summer photos is one of the easiest ways to make your website feel more credible and up to date.
Review Your Pet Biz Reports
The busy summer season generates valuable marketing data that can guide your strategy for the rest of the year. Instead of guessing what attracted new clients, review your Pet Biz Reports to see which pages received the most traffic, which keywords generated inquiries, and which blog posts led to bookings. You may find that certain services, locations, or topics consistently outperformed others. These insights allow you to make informed marketing decisions based on real results rather than assumptions.
The insights available through Barketing Solutions’ Monthly Analytics Reports and Pet Biz Reports help you identify where your marketing efforts delivered results so you can continue building on those successes throughout the fall.
Update Your Website for the Fall Season
As summer winds down, your services and schedule may begin to change. Whether your availability opens up after vacation season, you’ve expanded your service area, or you’re introducing seasonal offerings, your website should reflect those updates.
Review your service pages, availability, pricing, and coverage areas to ensure everything is accurate. Keeping your website current reduces confusion, builds trust, and sets clear expectations before potential clients reach out.
Refresh Your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile deserves the same attention as your website. As summer winds down, take a few minutes to update your business hours, remove expired seasonal offers, replace older photos, and publish a fresh post that reflects your current services.
An up-to-date profile gives potential clients confidence that your business is active and responsive, while regular updates also support stronger local search visibility. It’s a quick task that can have a lasting impact on how your business appears in search results.
Check Your AI Visibility
AI-powered search is changing how pet parents discover local businesses. Instead of relying solely on traditional search engines, many people now turn to tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s AI search features for recommendations. That’s why it’s important to understand how these platforms present your business.
An AI Visibility Scanner can reveal how AI interprets your website, services, and online presence while identifying gaps or opportunities for improvement. Addressing those insights now can strengthen your visibility before the next busy booking season arrives.
Barketing Beacon is launching soon! AI is the new word of mouth, and Barketing Beacon is the platform that shows whether ChatGPT, Google AI, Claude & Perplexity recommend your pet business, and walks you through it one step at a time, so you always know your next move.
Perform Website Maintenance Before Business Picks Up Again
As business slows after summer, it’s easy to let website maintenance slip. Unfortunately, that’s when outdated plugins, security vulnerabilities, failed backups, and software conflicts often go unnoticed. Use this quieter time to update plugins and themes, verify your backups, review your site’s security, and confirm your hosting is performing reliably.
Taking care of these essentials now helps prevent costly issues before business picks up again. If you’d rather leave the technical work to the experts, Barketing Solutions’ Monthly Webmaster Plans keep your website secure, up to date, and running smoothly year-round. If you have a WordPress website built with Elementor or Divi, you may qualify to move to Barketing without a brand-new build!
Build Your Fall and Winter Content Calendar
The end of summer is the perfect time to plan your marketing for the months ahead. Rather than scrambling to create blog posts, newsletters, or social media content once fall arrives, build your content calendar now.
Focus on the seasonal questions pet parents will soon be asking, such as holiday travel planning, cold-weather dog walking, Thanksgiving pet safety, winter exercise ideas, and preparing pets for holiday visitors. Planning ahead helps you publish consistently, stay organized, and target seasonal search terms before your competitors do.
Finish Summer Strong and Prepare for What’s Next
The end of summer isn’t the end of your marketing momentum. In many ways, it’s the beginning of your next opportunity.
By requesting reviews while experiences are still fresh, updating your website with authentic photos, analyzing your summer performance, refreshing seasonal information, maintaining your Google Business Profile, evaluating your AI visibility, performing website maintenance, and planning future content, you’ll position your pet business for continued growth throughout the rest of the year.
At Barketing Solutions, we help pet businesses make smarter marketing decisions every month. Our Monthly Analytics Reports and Pet Biz Reports provide the insights you need to understand what’s driving results. Our AI Visibility Scanner (Barketing Beacon) helps you prepare for the future of AI-powered search, while our Monthly Webmaster Plans keep your website secure, up to date, and performing at its best.
By taking action before summer officially ends, you’ll be ready to welcome the next season with confidence instead of scrambling to catch up.
Erika Godwin is the President of Barketing Solutions and the Co-Founder and CMO of ProPet Software, an industry-leading kennel management software. Erika has over 8 years of experience with WordPress and graduated from Elmira College in 2009 with a BS, Business Administration- Marketing and Management. View Erika’s Full Bio.
