Time to slow down for the holiday season…

It’s time for family, food, presents and football! It’s also the perfect time to get ahead.

It’s common for businesses to slow down, or even pause their marketing efforts during the holiday season, with the strategy of really starting strong in the new year; big mistake, huge! During this “down-time” these businesses are missing out on more opportunities than ever.

Regardless if the business is a seasonal business or if it has a year round target audience, slowing down or completely stopping the marketing efforts means it’s very likely one of two things are happening, or both.

1. Competitors are gaining what you’re losing. While efforts have slowed down, your competitors are picking up the slack and gaining more customers that could have been reached by you, had the marketing efforts been consistent and followed a strategy. No matter the business, no matter the audience, having a strategy is paramount. As Benjamin Franklin said; “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”

If you’re a new business or brand, now is the time! Start developing an initial strategy; and include a year round marketing budget to coincide with your business plan.

2. Losing ground. Among other things, one of the biggest keys to success in marketing is consistency, and when this consistency is disrupted for whatever reason, there is the risk of losing ground in your efforts of brand or product recognition, prospect retention, promotions, and remarketing – in turn losing out on potential sales and revenue.

The holidays can be the best time to bring in new business and even return business if you stick with a properly developed strategy. While your competitors have “held back” on their marketing efforts during the holiday season, keep yours going and bring in the new business, and while you’re at it remind past clients how good of a job you did for them on that last project or how much they liked the last product you sold them. Build customer loyalty! The truth is many business owners and marketing managers make the mistake of is thinking that all offices are closed or people are too busy to be bothered. We all know the holiday season is very hectic for most people, this is true, but for some businesses it’s actually their slow time of the year and they are just waiting for that phone to ring. Think about it, we’re all different, we all have different cycles and ways of doing things – so just because you think someone might be too busy to take your call, it may be just the opposite. Don’t assume, take the risk and make the call, send that follow-up email and keep up with your marketing!

A few things to keep up with during the holidays:

1. Communication – Even during the holidays, keep building relationships with your clients. Send holiday greetings, call and ask how things are going, or just reach out and say hello. Be personable!

2. Online/Digital Presence – Your website is your online representative 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. Take care of your website, keep it updated with fresh content, maintain the SEO to current standards and practices, and provide the best user experience possible. If you’re not on social media I suggest you get on it! Even if you think it won’t work for you, start building an online presence in social media, and always engage your following.

3. Brand Recognition, PR and Traditional Marketing – These three elements go hand in hand all the time, if you keep up your name out there with PR and Traditional Marketing (no it’s not dead), you’ll keep up your brand recognition throughout the year and set yourself up for the new year. Keep up with your mailers, your print collateral and product and service marketing – keep it fresh!

If you don’t have a strategy, you’re unsure what kind of budget you need, or just don’t know where to start – find a reliable marketing company that you can work with on developing a strategy. You’ll want a great company to build a relationship with for the long haul so choose wisely and do your homework. We’re always here to answer questions and help anyone we can no matter what stage of your business you’re at. We pride ourselves in our work and we’re extremely passionate in what we do.

We are #thirteen05 creative.