The “12 Days of Christmas” is a well known song. I am sure you know it!  It features on many Christmas cards with pictures of partridges, pear trees, rings and drummers drumming, maids a milking and so on. 

If you are less than thrilled about settling down to planning next year, there is a more fun way to get ideas for your marketing.  Think of a song!  Specifically the 12 Days of Christmas and you can sing along to my made up marketing based words to inspire you to thought and action!

These days we think of the 12 days as the run up to Christmas.  Traditionally it was the 12 days of holiday between Christmas and Epiphany on 6th January.  Time off after the big day! Whether before or after Christmas this can be a really good time to think about your business.  Looking back to the year just passing as well as looking ahead.

I hope this version of the song will get you singing along – and thinking about your business.  We are counting down to the partridge and that pear tree.

Shock Horror Disclaimer: When you run your own small business you are the True Love of your business, and although it is close to you it is a separate entity.  

12 Days of Christmas 

12 drummers drumming up activities for the year ahead

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love (that’s you!) gave to me (your business): 12 drummers drumming up the activities for the 12 months of the year ahead.

How can you plan for the coming year?  What is going to happen in the wider world, the world of your business as well as you and your personal life?

National Days or Months which have relevance for your business can form the basis of a campaign to sell a particular product or service. You establish the rhythm of the year ahead. Some companies always sell the same product at the same time of year and therefore plan the build up well in advance.  Don’t forget to include your time off too: special events, birthdays and holidays.  You can plan in advance, and automation can be a big help here.

Do you have a business anniversary? If the anniversary happens to fall in a season where your clients do not normally buy so much all better.  It could encourage them to buy, and also challenge any ideas about their buying habits.

The biggest killer for any small business is the idea that “it won’t work.”

11 pipers piping out and broadcasting my marketing messages

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love (well, you know who that is, now!) gave to me (you know what) : 11 pipers piping out my marketing messages.  There are so many pipers and together they make more music.  You can focus on one and be a virtuoso or have a presence on a number of them.

What are your options for your 11 pipers?

Face to face networking where you see their eyes, can read the body language, and be seen and heard most completely is still the first marketing option for many start ups.

Social media is often a good choice as it is so easy to take a photograph and add a few thoughts.  It can be a less risky way to boost confidence.  Instagram, facebook, and Linked In are the most popular for businesses.

Some people discover what they want to say by talking and others by writing.  You may prefer to develop your ideas in a more considered way.. You can do this on social media especially Linked in, but a blog, video or podcast and newsletters give you the chance to develop your ideas in longer form content.

Either way the more you communicate what matters to you the more you develop confidence and your voice.

A quick and easy blog platform is wordpress.com which is hosted for you, or find your own hosted site in which case wordpresss.org is the way to go.  You don’t need a big traditional website any longer – just a few pages and a blog is sufficient.

You can write white papers, have an interesting piece of content to give away in return for an email address, send email newsletters, or drip out your email courses. 

Working in co-operation with people who have a similar audience to you but a different offering can be very rewarding.  So you can write guest blog posts, be on their podcast or co-operate.  The more you know your audience and have a track record the better. Cooperation not competition is the key. You help each other and offer useful services to your people.

Video, podcasting, facebook, Linked In, twitter.  Have a plan and stick to it for at least three months before you reassess.

Also don’t overlook snail mail.  Because there is less of it these days your letters, postcards, packets  have more curiosity value. Lastly, if you would like more clients more easily you can focus on getting more referrals from satisfied customers to people they know and think you could help too.  Sometimes you get referrals naturally.  But we all live in a busy world full of distractions so ask your good clients if they can think of somebody else you could help.

10 lords or satisfied customers leaping around saying how good your work is

Who are your top ten customers?  Do you have a record of the way you have helped them?

Testimonials in their words whether written, or on video are very powerful.  Your customers’ views are more believable than yours!

If you don’t know how you have helped, go back and ask! And o9f course they may know somebody else like them who could benefit.  All you have to do is ask.

Even better .. ask your best cust9omers how you could help them more.  What services or products do they want that you could provide?  Don’t know? Ask them!

9 ladies dancing my brand

9 ladies dancing my brand. Cars and boats always used to be called “she” and the man who fixed my roof recently referred to my house as “her” and it sounded really friendly!

Your brand is so much more than a logo, or even the colours of your logo. When every experience within your business is a pleasure to you your brand comes to life, and every aspect “dances”.

When the choices are conscious you have confidence that your brand is working for you!  Some people will be ideal clients for you and will warm to your style, and the ones who don’t aren’t right.. It is ridiculously simple…

What opinion do your customers have of your car, the places you choose to meet, your office, your desk, your comfortable chair?  Everything you have is part of your brand and could be dancing for you.

Think about your laptop, a physical notebook, the pen you sign the contract with, your shoes, your bag, your jacket, even a handkerchief or what you have on your desk. Do they please you?

8 headlines which do the milking

8 headlines milking the conversation in your customer’s mind.   Headlines on webpages, brochures and emails do a lot of the hard work and work their cash cow thing.

Headlines are the first thing your prospects see and something you can refine.  You want to include the pain or problem that your customer may be in as well as the solution that you offer.  Time spent refining your headlines will never be wasted.

The free headline analyser tool from Monster Insights will give you guidance and a score based on power words, emotion, uncommon words, length etc.  A tool is not always the only solution but it will defini8tely give you useful pointers that can be worked on.  

A tip that works with my clients is to re-work the headline a number of times.  You want the main point to come across in an inviting way so I suggest 8 times.  Very often we lose the point of what we have written and the newsletter or blog post needs to be written again with a sharper focus.

7 steps that take your customer from problem to solution

7 steps that take your customers from where they are to where they want to be. Seven is a magic number.  Identify the magical seven steps for what you do in your business and use it to make the transformation clearer for them to understand.

Apparently we can remember 7 pieces of information at any given time – plus or minus one or two.  So if your customer can complete their journey in 5 that is all to the good.  But 11 steps is too much for our over-worked information clogged brains.

6 geese a-laying eggs that turn into assets. 

Well of course you may not have any eggs laid by geese. But you will have “nest eggs” that are assets and will develop your business.  You will be increasing the asset value of your business year on year.

What are the top six assets that have developed in your business over the past 12 months?  It doesn’t have to be technical equipment which is how we often think of assets.  Your contact list, products, improved systems, new website, better metrics are all assets, too. Don’t forget the most important asset – your mind.

How do you view failure?  Where have you taken a risk that previously you might have avoided?  Resilience has been needed during these past two years and you may find you have developed more resilience than you have realised.

5 go-old things

5 go-o-ld things that save your business money and time. New technology means you can do more with less and be supported.  Low-cost email marketing so you know who is opening your emails, to easier websites, outsourcing or working in partnership with real human beings can save you energy and money.

What are the five things that bring gold into your business?   Recession? Covid? Bah humbug!

4 Quarterly plans (to stay on track)

Of course planning doesn’t mean you will automatically achieve everything you want, but I am surprised how often it happens.  Getting clear is the first step.  It can be a lonely as an entrepreneur and planning improves your ability to make the most of a team.

3 values that say it all

When you know your values and express them in life and work, they create the special something that draws the right people to you.  The hallmark, the special aroma, the spark that you bring to the world that is uniquely you, and communicates powerfully.  It is why people choose to be with you, work with you, like you and trust you. 

When we are confident and in the flow it all happens naturally. 

Making your values a more conscious part of your business means it is easier to be consistent and authentic.  You and your brand will also be more memorable which helps you make money more easily, too. 

2 top areas you “own” 

When explorers first went to remote parts of the world they often planted their national flag to claim the land, and gave it a name.  The names you give to your business, your method, your products all speak powerfully. 

Look again at your names as well as the way you approach your area of expertise.  Does it still feel right?

and think of any new ones that would be appropriate right now.

What questions do you get asked that you love to answer?  Google is used a lot for questions.  When people have mistaken ideas about your area it is a fantastic opportunity to show them a different way.

1 partridge and one pear tree -the most repeated words in the song

The partridge and the pear tree represent your ideal client who can fly, and the tree or branch that they live in.  The environment that they live in.. These are the constants in this song, as they are in any business.  

On the first day of Christmas my true love (me) turned up to give me the gift of my ideal client and the world they live in which I understand.  

When you are in their world and you understand your ideal client it all becomes less hard work and- dare I say it –  more like the song you sing!

Here is some information about the origins of the carol and a student choir  having fun with the real song.

On the first day of Christmas my true love (me) gave me the gift of my ideal client and the world they live in

sparkintomarketing.com

I wish you a wonderful 12 days of Christmas and hope you can use the time to enjoy thinking about your marketing.