Insanely Clever Marketing

Getting Out of The Black Hole

Posted by Penelope Herbert on September 10, 2015 · 1 Comment 

Getting Out of the Black Hole©

For many business owners, late November to early February is a black hole of sales inactivity. Pre-Christmas celebrations and office parties are in full swing so many decision-makers don’t want to be thinking about buying products and services. So, what do you do? Join the fun or think strategically about the next year for YOUR business? Or a bit of both?

So maybe it’s not a great time of year to make non-retails sales. But it IS a great time to plan your attack on the market place in the coming year.

If you don’t have pressing appointments and a dance-card full of opportunities, that’s OK. Look favourably on this time to brainstorm and plan marketing strategies.

You may be familiar with the adage that business owners need to work ON their business as well as IN their business. Take advantage of this time to work ON your business with relatively few interruptions.

1. What worked, what didn’t.

Think about what strategies to gain sales you employed in the preceding year. Maybe you conducted a direct marketing campaign, developed a social media plan, made special offers, advertised in a magazine, held an event.

Sometimes good campaigns don’t work because the channel to market was wrong. Did you research what the target audience wanted to hear from you? Did you know through what channels they get their information?

These two combinations are crucial. So give some thought to why something didn’t work when you thought it should. Conversely, what was it about a successful campaign you could repeat?

2. Research your own marketing message(s)

See ‘Professional Tips for Mistake-Free Surveys‘ on this blog

This can be via casual conversation or a more structured ‘interview’. Most people don’t mind talking about their preferences and thoughts. It’s just a matter of asking the right questions and getting honest answers that will help with your marketing planning.

3. Look critically at your website and/or social media platforms

Check out the statistics and/or Google analytics for your website and social media platforms. When you have extra time, analysing statistics can provide really useful information for your planning.

• What’s providing you with the most traffic?
• From what other sites are viewers being directed to your site?
• Which pages on your website are more popular than others?
• What key words are people searching for?
• Have you posted information that’s been more popular than other information?
• Are here any trends in the statistics? Such as particular days that drive more traffic.
• Which social media accounts are more successful than others?

4. Create a big, hairy goal for 2016

Why not think about something really extreme you want to achieve this year? What’s stopping you from achieving it? How do you know you’ll fail? You just might win.

Just for fun, think of an extreme goal. OK, now think of some of the steps you’d need to take to achieve this. In fact, even start at the end and work backwards.

Begin with the end result and the think of the steps BACKWARDS until you reach today. Do you view the goal differently now? Does it seem more achievable to you now?

5. Have fun, spend time with friends and family

It’s important to take time out for YOU. Relax, laugh, have fun, take a break. Regenerate. Top up your reserves.

Are you planning a big hairy goal for 2016? We’d love to know what you are planning. Can you give us a hint?