We discovered some reassuring news…the January blues are a real thing! If you’re in a January slump, you’re quite possibly not imagining it! The blues don’t just hit us as employees heading back to work, they can also strike business owners too! SO if you’re reading this feeling a bit lost, unsure of where to focus your attention this January, we have some tip.

Make a Plan

Use these last few days of January to sit down and make a plan of action for 2020. It doesn’t need to be anything extensive, it just needs to give you that guidance and direction. Having this can really push you off to a good start. Last year we shared a four-part series of articles on strategic planning. If you feel it’s time you created a real strategy these articles are worth a read. Start with the first in the series, Strategic Planning For Business Owners.

Try Something New

Make 2020 the year you try something new for the business. Once again, this doesn’t need to be anything drastic, we’re not suggesting you start offering new products or change your branding (unless this is needed). Could you tweak promotional messaging or try a new marketing channel? 

One overlooked area of marketing in our now very digital world is still direct mail. If you’ve previously ruled out this channel, or just never considered it, we hope to convince you otherwise!

• On average direct mail is kept for 17 days
• 60% of people say that mail keeps products/services at the top of their mind
• 70% of Americans say mail is more personal than the internet

Also, contrary to popular belief, direct mail can happen FAST if you need it to. It’s all about selecting the right company to partner with. That’s where we step it. We can get your mail out the same or following business day. You can submit orders 24/7 and we will work round the clock to meet your order. It doesn’t matter what size your order is, we take orders of all sizes. Many of the features we offer would cost a premium elsewhere, but we don’t charge extra for excellent service. It’s just who we are! 

Reconnect

The holidays are a time of connection, so when January hits it’s easy to feel disconnected and forget that just a few weeks ago everything was in full swing. For a seasonal business this is especially true. If things tend to quiet down at the start of the new year, use this time at month end to reconnect with customers. Remind them what is on the way, get them excited about future offers or just stay relevant. Brand awareness is more important than ever before because the competition is so high.

Another major reason for the January blues is post-December exhaustion. Yes, that’s right, businesses can also become exhausted and it usually shows! This brings us back to tip number 2, trying something new to break the rut. Alternatively, it might actually be time to strip back to basics and focus on a few golden projects rather than trying to master every funnel and meet every demand. Quality of quantity. 

Zairmail (www.zairmail.com) is the fastest and easiest way to send (real) postal mail. Give us a call anytime at 888.898.0066, we would be happy to help with your direct mail needs.

Now as 2020 is officially underway it’s the optimal time to look back over the past year and assess what did and didn’t work. This is a crucial part of business growth; giving you the ability to successfully move forward. However, you should take this a step further and investigate why something worked so well, or why something failed. To succeed you must be adaptive and reactive and to be those things you must understand the bigger picture. 

Starting Point

You don’t have to be a professional strategist to carry out an assessment of your business. The best place to start is by writing down your overall thoughts on the previous year. You can do this casually as if someone has asked you, ‘how was business last year?’ You just need to get a good feel for where your business is at and whether it met your expectations for 2019. Once you’ve done this you should start by listing your top projects/clients/sales/campaigns of the year. Depending on the nature of your organization and the frequency of projects, this could be your top three campaigns, or your top 20.

Don’t Shy Away from the Numbers

Looking at the finances can sometimes feel like a mission, but as business owners, it’s a crucial part of planning.  Once again, start with the basics, were you up, down or flat for the year? What does your average order size look like?  What products are selling and which products are not?

After you’ve got this basic level of understanding, look to the specifics. Are there any trends?  Specific types of customers? Specific times of year that are better than others? Throughout this process, you must always ask ‘why’. We have to keep asking why, until we are sure we understand all the numbers. The “why” is often much more telling than the “what”…

Core Competencies

The next step is to list your core competencies, any type of skill or resource that gives you a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Take this further still and list only those areas that allow for a SUSTAINABLE strategic advantage. Can your current core competencies stand the test of time? If not can you evolve and develop them as your business grows. Should this be part of your 2020 plan?

Primary Offerings

What do you have in the pipeline so far in terms of primary offerings? A timeline can be a useful way to map out any campaigns or focuses throughout the year. If you find this too overwhelming or you’re a smaller business you might prefer to break this down into quarters and focus just on the next 3 months only. The main things you need to know are how you intend to split and use a budget, plus the timing of each element. 

Of course, you must then plan for how you intend to get attention to your primary offerings. Don’t be fooled by thinking just because you have the best offer customers will flock to you organically. A great marketing campaign can pull customers to competitor offers if it makes things more convenient or delivers a harder-hitting message. Don’t simply hope that customers will find you by ‘word of mouth’. Help them to discover your brand.

Sales will always improve with regular customer contact. It helps to ensure you stay the brand in mind when customers are ready to purchase. This is why there is a lot of power in building brand awareness, weeks, months or even years before an intended purchase. People might not always respond to every offer you send right there and then. You often reap the rewards longterm from brand awareness campaigns.

Zairmail (www.zairmail.com) is the fastest and easiest way to send (real) postal mail. Give us a call anytime at 888.898.0066, we would be happy to help with your direct mail needs.