One of the earliest marketing postcards for myself was a black and white photo of people sitting on a park bench looking glumly towards the camera. The caption was "So we just sit here and smile and customers come to us right?"
It worked because people smiled - but realised there was a grain of truth in the matter - and this is never more true than at this time of the year. Rant begins...
What is it about having what is effectively a family roast on one day in December that paralyses small businesses in terms of marketing throughout the whole month? Yes yes, even I, Ebenezer Buswell, get it. It's been a long and challenging year, you want time off, you've earned it, you want to be in the bosom of our family BUT what are the commercial consequences of taking your eye off the ball for so long?
Let me explain, several businesses have been saying since early December - we'd like to work with you and will be coming back to talk to you in mid January. Here are the consequences of delaying your marketing:
Guess what - a lot of companies brief their marketing advisers in mid January which means you will be lucky to get something by the END of January.
That something may not be entirely perfect on its first outing. You may want to discuss it and come back with some comments asking for it to be tweaked. You are now in February.
Happily the second incarnation suits you - you may now need to get it printed and posted out - a lot more of February is flying past.
Having followed up your mailing to your target market you may start to get in business... but it is now March.
Please don't put yourself in this position
Remember, in marketing terms you should have a 12 month outline plan with the first three 3 months as scheduled actions. This should run seamlessly in front of you - don't run out of 2011 before deciding what you might do in 2012...
In all honesty this has been less of a rant and more of a plea to make things easier on yourselves when it's tough out there. If you would like practical help to do this you might want to find out about my marketing roadmap
Thanks to sirwiseowl on Flickr for the pic