Many Australian businesses slow down the closer we get to the end of the year. With the holidays just around the corner, you can expect fewer emails in your inbox and more free time on your hands.
A smart marketer won’t let that free time go to waste. You can use this slow-down period to make sure all of the loose ends from last year’s marketing activity are wrapped up neatly, and get ahead of the game by laying out the groundwork for 2022.
RELATED: Set it and forget it marketing for the holidays.
In the following, we’ve come up with 4 tips to save time and reduce stress when you’re back at the office in January.
1. Start with a look back at your digital marketing efforts.
The best way to get started with your seasonal marketing is to spend some time looking back over the past year. If you have a formal marketing strategy or calendar, pull it out and gather your team around to discuss all of the activities that have been happening over the year.
During this meeting, focus on four things:
- What was successful and what wasn’t successful.
- Are there any small or minor tasks that still need to be wrapped up?
- Is there anything you can tweak and reuse to save time now or in future?
- Do you need to bring in a digital or SEO agency to help you get through the work?
The responses you come up with will set the framework for your strategy for the new year while ensuring you know what’s left to be done, and who will be doing the work. If you need to bring in outside help such as an agency, this can lighten your load and ensure the work gets done to standard.
This will give you a clear roadmap for your online marketing efforts, saving you the time and stress of creating new plans from scratch.
2. Make a list for your website and ad campaigns, and check it twice.
Now that you’ve got a list of marketing tasks that may still need to be taken care of, double check that there is a clear plan in place for how to get it all done in time.
A few things to look over include:
- Are all of your ad campaigns set to run for the right length/spend?
- Do you have a clear list of who is responsible for each task?
- Do you have social media posts set up for the Christmas marketing period?
- Do any social media posts or other content items need to be edited/updated if your products/services/deals have changed?
- Are all of your blog posts ready to roll out as scheduled?
- Are all of your website plugins updated and backed up?
- Do any of your web pages mention the current year and therefore need to be updated?
Checking through all of these little tasks now will mean you can rest and relax (or party to your heart’s content) over the holiday break.
RELATED: Automate your marketing for the holidays with our guide to marketing automation.
3. Push forward on your upcoming online marketing strategies.
It’s common for businesses to wait until the new year before they start revamping their marketing strategy. However, it usually takes weeks, if not longer, to fully plan online marketing strategies, which means you could miss out on the crucial early days of the year if you wait too long.
Now’s the time to start thinking about how you will tackle your marketing goals for the coming year. You can start by:
- Determining what budget you will be working with (at least an approximation)
- Identifying your goals (Pro Tip: Use the list you made in step 1!)
- Modifying goals up or down in response to evolving situations
- Considering any long-term campaigns you’ll need to focus on
- Deciding on themes and focal points for the first quarter of the new year
- Determining if you need help such as a new team member, a freelancer, or a digital agency.
4. Build a cushion for the New Year.
Even if you feel confident that you have a good strategy ready for next year, it’s still a good idea to take some action now so you’ll have some time to get the ball rolling in January. For example, you may want to write a few blogs or posts now (or contract them out!) so that you can schedule them to go live during the first few weeks of the new year.
Similarly, you can schedule ad campaigns or social media posts in advance using tools like Hootsuite or Buffer, so you won’t have to worry about accidentally going radio silent right when your customers are back and ready to engage.
Taking advantage of slower summer days means you can ease into your new year’s marketing without a big rush once things start to ramp up. And, putting in a bit of extra work now, means you’ll be thanking yourself in the new year!
Bonus tip: Invest in an expert digital marketing advice & products.
Whether you’re ramping up your social media marketing this holiday season, dabbling in digital display, or looking into search engine marketing, bringing in the experts can save you time and massively reduce your stress.
Your friends at Yellow Pages offer digital marketing advice and products that can make your life that much easier and more stress-free, which is something we all need this year. Get in touch to find out more about how we can help.
