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 time—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?)