The Twelve Marketing Days Of Christmas

Okay, okay. Shameless marketing Christmas blog post. Build a bridge. Enjoy it. And just for the record, I know it doesn't scan. For god's sake don't try to sing it.

Twelve Months Of Marketing Planning

Every month needs a plan so sit down at the start of the year and put one together. Think about what happens every month - (January - Australia Day, February - Valentine's Day, and so on) and then build some sort of brand and business communication around that. There is something happening every month even if it seems quiet. There are lots of online resources where you can find weird and wacky public holidays and special days that can generate all sorts of fun. For example, never forget America has a National Punctuation Day on September 24. Yes. Really.

Eleven Blogs A Year

If you can pump out more then great but at the VERY LEAST you should be doing one a month. And then I'm going to give you Christmas off. If you're struggling for content titles then just look at what your competitors are creating or look at leading people in your industry. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to 'redevelop' some blog titles for your own use.

Ten SEO Keywords

This is again a minimum. You should be aware of the top ten keywords for your business sector. And there's no excuse because that information is FREE from Google. Track down their keyword planner and do the search yourself. Once you've got them, you can start building content around them.

Nine Online Reviews

The numbers start getting a bit tenuous here. They really do. This could have gone under any number but the point is still valid. Online reviews on Google contribute a shit load of SEO juice these days, especially for local businesses. So go and ask some people to review your business. But don't bribe them. That's not allowed.

Eight Outbound Emails

Yeah. You've probably guessed the numbers are still tenuous. Oh well. It's the thought that counts. Outbound marketing emails work. As long as you target them correctly, write something engaging and captivating, and add in a call to action, you can get leads from them. Sure, it's going to be a low % but it's a numbers game. Send 100, get 3 leads? That could be worth the few days of effort.

Seven Social Posts A Week

People always ask me 'how often should I post?' and generally my answer is 'when you've got something interesting to say'. But you should be able to manage something interesting at least once a day. Otherwise, what are you doing in business? Even if that post is posing a question, or sharing an article you think your followers would find interesting. Keep yourself front of mind by getting out there and sharing things.

Six Bi-monthly Enewsletters

I know an enewsletter can be a bit of a chore but seriously, one every two months? That's not too hard to ask now is it. MailChimp makes setting it up a doddle and all you need to do is put some time and effort into building a list. There. Is. No. Excuse. Or pay someone else to do it for you.

Five Brand Promises

Great brands make great promises to their customers and then keep them. What are your brand promises? If you can't think of five then you probably don't have a business. For example, 'we promise to reply to every enquiry within 24 hours'. 'We promise to deliver the best level of service'. 'We promise to call every customer by their first name when they come into our business'. There's lots you could do, and there's some great examples of corporate brand promises out there that are a thousand times more inspirational than those ones I just came up with.

Four Competitor Analyses

How do you know if you're winning? Well, you can have your own pre-defined KPIs and metrics of course, but that would defeat the point of this list entry. It's always good to know what your competitors are doing - their activity can often have a massive impact on your business. So do a SWOT analysis of four key competitors and do it twice a year. Which technically makes eight. Moving right along.

Three Target Markets

One of the problems I see with many businesses is that they're chasing after too many target markets. 'Who is your customer?' I ask. 'Everyone', they reply. No. It. Isn't. At best, you should have three core target markets and you should know what they look like, who they are, what TV they watch and what magazines do they read. BE the target market. Okay, that might be a bit silly but at least understand their reasons for purchase and adjust your messaging accordingly.

Two Key Marketing Numbers To Remember

Your target metric. Ambiguous as that sounds, what's the one key number you use to judge yourself on. Turnover, sales, profit? Numbers of customers? What is it? And secondly, what is one customer worth to you? What's their customer lifetime value?

One Tagline

Your brand only needs one tagline. Don't create a new one every six months whenever you decide to have a new advertising or marketing campaign or it'll confuse the crap out of your clients. You don't see Nike getting bored of 'Just Do It' now do you?