Yes, it is Beginning to Look Like Christmas, and it may well be classified by many as the most Wonderful Time of the Year, but before you Step into Christmas [sorry] a few words of wisdom I learnt from Marketing Expert Taki Moore: :

Whilst your competitors maybe going quiet and winding down, you should take this opportunity to cut through the Christmas clutter and focus on your campaigns to get a head start on sales for the new year.

And if you are ‘working’ between Christmas and New Year, but your customers may not be too demanding of you during this time, the great thing is it gives you time to do some maintenance tasks on your marketing. So put down that mince pie and use one of your 90 minutes to plan in the following:

1. Fill in your 2017 diary before…January 2017!  You should have a corporate diary with planned events, webinars, campaigns, product launches etc. And it’s just as important to schedule in your own downtime whether it be regular exercise, a hobby, or watching your kids play rugby every Sunday morning. And don’t forget to get your holidays booked in – downtime is vital.

2. Update your social profiles: I’m willing to bet you have at least three social profiles, and that you haven’t done much to update them lately. It’s important that you update your own bios on a regular basis, because new contacts and prospects will look at them.

3. Create a welcome campaign: few businesses do this but it’s so simple – just a standard message, or series of messages that go out to new customers or contacts to reassure them they’ve made the right choice, to start building a strong relationship and encourage them to take action.

4. Content is King: if you are having a well-deserved break between Christmas and New Year, there is no excuse for not publishing content be it blogging, e-shots or eBooks. This can all be scheduled up front using tools such as Hootsuite.

5. CRM (no, not that one!), Cause Related Marketing. Rather than sending cards or giving your staff gifts, why not look at offering your employees the chance to do some charitable community volunteering in work time such as doing a shift at a local homeless shelter?

Here’s wishing you a wonderful Christmas and prosperous New Year.