Show Notes

The holidays should be a time to unwind, relax and visit with family. But all too often for those of us that own our own business it means catching up on work.

You know you’re guilty of it.

Sneaking away during dinner to check on a project or write an email. Or using your “time off” as time to check off looming to-do’s. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

Join me as I walk you through some Holiday Survival Tips to make the seasonal transition more enjoyable.

Take the Marketing Matchmaker Quiz

Want to Work with Jennifer and her Virtual Marketing Experts Team?

Are you a coach, consultant, or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income, and scale your impact? Connect with me at YourMarketingMatchmaker.com I look forward to hearing from you.

Watch the Podcast Here:

Hey there. Thanks for listening and welcome to the marketing matchmaker podcast. If you're looking to grow your business, increase your revenue and scale your impact all while staying true to who you are and the people you serve. This is the show for you. I'm Jennifer Tamborski, digital marketing strategists, fractional CMO, and founder of Virtual Marketing Experts. My team and I work with six and seven figure coaches, consultants, and online entrepreneurs who are tired of playing the guru game of one size fits all marketing. They're ready to create a business and marketing strategy that actually builds relationships with their ideal clients creates massive shifts in their business and rapidly increases their revenue. As your marketing matchmaker, I'm going to help you find the perfect marketing match for you. This show will teach you how to reach your ideal client, connect with your audience, build that perfect relationship and generate more revenue. All through a process I like to call dating your ideal client. Now let's go have some fun!

Welcome back to Marketing Matchmaker. The holidays are just around the corner, in fact when you listen to this episode Thanksgiving is literally next week. There’s also only 38 days til Christmas, that my friends blows my mind. I know I’ve said this a lot, but this last year has gone so fast.  

In some ways it went faster than even last year did. One of the things I’m focusing on during this holiday season is slowing down and really planning to spend time with my family. And setting my business up to thrive throughout the remainder of the year.  

So in today’s episode I wanted to take some time to focus on thriving in the holiday season. 

The holidays should be a time to unwind, relax and visit with family. But all too often for those of us that own our own business it means catching up on work. You know you’re guilty of it. Sneaking away during dinner to check on a project or write an email. Or using your “time off” as time to check off looming to-do's. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

The first step to having a stress free holiday is to plan ahead. 

Take time to sit down and run through all of the things you need to get done between now and the end of the year. These should include both personal and professional items. Make sure you include all those holiday parties and shopping 🙂 By really getting all of the things out on paper you’re better able to really see where your focus needs to be, what you can delegate, which will allow you to really Plan time off. 

Remember, with so many people celebrating the holidays, many of your clients will be MIA, so it’s okay to take a breather.

Did you know that there are 8 different holidays from Thanksgiving to New Year? That means keeping in mind for your team, employees and contractors that they may want different days off. So plan for that as well. 

One more thing I’m going to do this year is Plan at least one day for myself. As entrepreneurs it’s easy to focus so much on your clients’ and family’s holiday experiences, that you forget to enjoy the holidays yourself. And let’s face it, sometimes the things that are supposed to be fun are clouded by stress. 

I am personally giving myself time to decompress and do things I enjoy with or without other people involved. 

Even if it’s just one day where you can enjoy the holidays. What you say goes. No asking for the opinions of the kids or spouse, you do exactly what you want. If you want to be Christmassy and make snow angels, go for it.  If you want to have martinis and get a massage, do it.  Take one day that’s all about you and celebrate your hard work and success.

You might be thinking “Yeah right! How will that happen?!” 

Here’s how I’m planning to make it happen:

• Review your Calendar or Project Management Tool.
• Decide on the days you’d like to have off.
• Check for any imperative deadlines and due dates over these days. If possible, move the deadline up to before your desired time off.
• Delegate tasks to your team as needed, or find someone to help you.
• Move non-essential tasks to after you return, or complete them before you leave.
• Schedule your time off.
• Inform your clients about a month before if they will be affected by your time off. Let them know when you’ll be off, if you’ll be available at all and how to reach you if you are.
• Turn on an auto-respond on your email. If someone emails you over the holidays they are likely not expecting a speedy response. Including some details about the time you are taking off in your auto-response sets a precedent for what can be expected.
• Pre-schedule & automate as much as possible. Pre-scheduling social media posts so you don’t have to worry about this day off, or automating any aspect of your business allows you to take a step back and be present during your time off. 

If you haven’t yet planned for your end of the year marketing there is no time like the present.

Honestly Black Friday is just a week away, this is a fantastic time to really create an influx of new clients and/or leads. I personally have 2 different Black Friday specials going on. They are being marketed in very different ways, but the end result would be to give value and grow my client and prospect list. 

Here’s the thing, as a marketer I generally tell  my clients to start planning Black Friday in September or October, and if you didn’t do that, it’s not too late. It is still possible to create an impact with your Black Friday special using just your email list. If you didn’t take the time to plan this out, go low tech. 

Send a series of emails to your list promoting the special and just have them respond to the email. This can give you amazing results with very little investment. It might actually help to push you over your end of year goals. 

And there are a few things you want to consider before jumping into action.

To create your BF offer remember to first: 

• Determine your goal
• Who are you trying to reach?
• What do your best customers find valuable? 
• Create your offers

There are a plethora of options when it comes to planning a quick black friday special. 

Such as creating a discount, special pricing, or special training for just this event. You could organize a contest. Contests are great social media tools, and the holidays offer an especially perfect opportunity to entertain your customers, since everyone is happy to get an extra gift. You can really get creative with this one.

Remember that the year doesn’t end after BF,  there is actually plenty of time to meet or exceed your 2021 goals. Generally the holiday season can present a huge opportunity to connect with your audience, reach new customers, and drive online sales. 

Also keep in mind that holiday campaigns don't have to revolve purely around selling.

You can choose to give back to your audience or celebrate your community instead. The most important thing to keep in mind when planning out your end of the year marketing campaign is

1. Goals: Of course, goals are the first thing that you need to establish when planning any marketing campaign. What are your goals for the holiday season? Do you want to increase leads and sales? Do you want to receive more brand recognition? More website traffic?
2. Objectives: Objectives, my friend, are measurable goals. Think of it this way: if your goal is at the top of a staircase, each step would be an objective. Here are a few good examples of objectives: ten new leads per month, ten new sales per month, 1,000 post impressions, or increasing web traffic by 25 percent.
3. Timing: Keep in mind the holidays that are coming up and really assess when is the right time to run your campaign (I actually had a client run a surprise year end training between the week of Christmas and new years. She ended up closing the year with a 100K in sales from just that campaign. 
4. Labor: Do you have the right people in place to execute your holiday marketing campaign, or will you need to look beyond your current staff? For instance, you might have a great marketing manager, but you need an SEO specialist for one part of your holiday strategy. You had better move fast: the demand for talent around the holidays is fierce! Even freelancers can be booked months in advance.
5. Advertising: This is a key component, especially when it comes to social media marketing. Did you include this crucial piece in your budget for holiday promotions? Where are you going to advertise? How much can you spend on ads? Hey, speaking of which . . .
6. Budget: You need to account for outsourcing, advertising, and who knows what else! Do you have a budget in place for–or any money left from your annual budget to use on–your holiday promotions? (Pro tip: you should create a specific holiday budget into your annual budget when you pitch it each year and then earmark the funds for the fourth quarter.)
7. Schedule and Timeline: You need to map out the deadlines for every aspect of your marketing campaign, from creating content to determining release dates. It can be as rigid or as flexible as you need.
8. Measurements: What tools will you use to measure the effectiveness of this campaign? How will you quantify your goals? This will help you not only determine your success but also refine your future holiday strategy.
9. Competition: Not sure if you are on the right track? What’s the competition doing for the holidays? Take a look at the strategies of others in your industry (especially direct competitors). The findings may be surprising, but will always be helpful.

Thank You for listening to the Marketing Matchmaker podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear your feedback. Please head over to iTunes and leave a review so we can hear from you. And if you are a coach, consultant, or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income, and scale your impact connect with me at yourmarketingmatchmaker.com. I look forward to hearing from you.