The Super Bowl is Over. Let’s Get Back to Marketing.

Every year we notice a slump from the beginning of December through the weekend of the Super Bowl. In December, everyone spends their money on things other than business expenses. Then, in January, everyone stops spending altogether.

We’ve learned over the years that December is the natural time for us to spend a week off work, analyzing the year’s activities, what worked well and why, and planning for the coming year. We set business and personal goals, then follow up all year long, monthly, quarterly, and again at year end.

We’ve also learned that expending effort marketing in January can be a complete waste of timeā€”if we do it wrong. January is the time to keep it very personal, stay on people’s radar, share freely, to make our marketing message “We understand you’re not ready right now, but when you are, we’ll be ready, too, and here’s why we might be a good match when it’s time.” (That’s not as succinct as I’d like.)

It’s the Tuesday after the big game, and things are going to get back to normal. That means marketing can serve not just to stay on folks’ radar, but to educate and attract, moving the right people toward our offerings, turning into the fun and games of doing business. (If you’re not having fun marketing your book and your business, let’s talk, shall we?)

Plan to Take a Week Off

take time offIt’s the last day of the year and you’ve been thinking about your goals for the new year. Here’s the last of my suggested goals for your virtual assistant business in the coming year.

Plan to take a week off at the end of the year to plan your business goals for the new year.

We do this every year and have for many years. We actually take two weeks. We shut down the business. We let all our clients know about 60 days in advance so there are no surprises. They get us any work we need to get done well in advance. They know that after the first of the new year, we’ll be back and raring to go!

In fact I’m off right now. I wrote this and other blog posts and scheduled them to go out during my time off so you could have some information on setting goals for your business this coming year. Now’s a great time to slow down from client work and take time to work in your own business. Most of your clients are probably taking time off now as well.

If you aren’t yet doing this, plan next year to take at least a week off at the end of the year to plan for your business goals for the following year.

Speaking of a new year, what would you like me to write about next in the new year?