It’s coming, whether you like it or not. Silly season is ON THE WAY. It doesn’t have to be silly for your marketing though.
Here are my three top marketing tips to share, reflect on and celebrate the love with your clients.
Marketing can be frustrating but you are going to tackle it differently. Relax and enjoy the festive time while marketing your business and planning ahead for a brand new year.
Tip 1: Share
You are going to be at many events, clinking glasses and nibbling canapés with your colleagues, clients and future clients. Make the most of the time to collaborate and share pics with these special connections. Dress up in your glam clothes and tag, share, hashtag! Share the venue, the people, the location. This is a great time to play with social media and shape new alliances.
Bonus Tip: Insta and Facebook stories are great for live videos. Use your social media to interact with your client and share short videos in real time. Bring them into the moment! Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Tip 2: Reflect
This might be a surprising tip, but now is the BEST time of year to reflect on the times you have had with your clients.
This involves looking beyond the payable services you offer in your everyday business role. I want you to look at your interwoven story of this year via your values and strengths with your clients.
- What hurdles did you overcome together? Was there a client that became sick, and you worked together to re-prioritise strategies? What was the outcome?
- Which new clients did you work with, and what is their feedback on the year that is now closing? Do they feel good about working with you?
- How are clients finding you? Is your reputation strengthening in the field? Is word-of-mouth your finest marketing strategy?
These questions can make you squirm. That’s why they are essential. Take the time to reflect on what went well, what did not and how you will approach the situation next time. Write down your thoughts and see what patterns emerge.
The marketing value of this exercise is that when you know what you are doing right, you can actively promote it.
With this new knowledge, you can collect and develop testimonials from your clients who want to share their stories. This is another tool in your marketing toolbox to reach your target audience. Listen and support potential new clients who may be going through the exact same situation right now and are looking for a way through.
Above all, be a solution for your clients.
Tip 3: Celebrate
Business is tricky. Whether you are going it alone, in a partnership or part of a large company, there is so much to respond to and control daily.
Weekends can blur as you mop up the weekday work on Saturday morning and prepare for the week ahead on Sunday afternoons. That leaves that tiny little free-thinking time between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
If you work part-time, you may have more time available and enjoy much more flexibility. If you have a family, you may have many more sporting dates, school events and a busier life schedule.
Whatever you have right now, you are doing it. You made it through to today. Not every business did. But you did.
Breathe out.
Remind yourself why you have your business and what you love about it. What about your business gets you out of bed in the morning?
- Is it in that feeling of seeing your clients succeed with your support?
- Is it in the freedom of being where you need to be rather than being chained to a desk?
- Is it the families you support with your employees?
- Is it something else?
Dig deep and find it.
To succeed in your marketing strategies, you must know why you are in business and where your business is positioned. Be clear on this before spending a single dollar next year, aiming to reach clients that are not the right fit for you.
Celebrate it, cherish it and then plan for the year ahead and how you will make it all happen again. Faster? Better? That’s up to you.
Maybe this year was so good you just want more of that and that’s fine. Plan your marketing strategies in the same line and follow the same path.
Maybe you want to change it up, and you need support? Is it time to get a new marketing plan, freshen up your content, begin that regular email campaign you keep thinking about and set quarterly marketing goals?
I can help. Let’s build relationships with your clients today and strengthen those connections to keep your customers coming back to you again and again.
Get in touch so we can start planning with you now before the year is over.
I wish you a wonderful December and an even better year ahead. See you in the new year!
Angela.
Celebrate it, cherish it and then plan how you will make it all happen again.
Angela is the owner of Whipbird Creative, a media and marketing services business located in Queensland, Australia. With more than 18 years of professional writing experience, Angela has created various content types, including feature articles for newspapers and magazines, marketing plans, press releases, website content, and book reviews for service-based Australian companies. Her passion lies in writing about community and business successes and competing in open water and Masters Queensland swimming events. Angela holds a degree in Communications, with a major in Journalism and Public Relations, and multiple certifications in digital content development.