Ah, January. She comes around following the busiest time of the year for retailers and businesses, with a frosty bite and dark, long hours. A time for reflection and resolutions, January leaves many questioning not only their existence, but also their future.
For small business owners, January can seem very bleak indeed. Customers have started to worry about their financial situation post-Christmas shopping splurges, and freelancers are worrying if they have enough put aside to fulfil the demands of their annual self assessment. Research has shown that changing shopping habits such as Black Friday mean that one in three shoppers now plan to spend less than usual in the traditional January sales.
All is not lost, however! As a small business owner you have an arsenal of sales and marketing weaponry to make sure that January, and even the following months, turn out to be your best yet and really make 2016 go off with a bang.
Be proactive
It might already be the month of January but that doesn’t mean you should be sitting on your hands or twiddling your thumbs. Being proactive and forward-thinking throughout the month (remembering to look forward into February) will put you in good stead for the rest of the year.
Depending on your business, if the phone lines are slow and no one is shopping, you could use the time to plan out your next month’s marketing strategy, or think about how you’ll be running your financials up until the end of the tax year in April.
Have you caught up with your employee roster and looked at their objectives for the following calendar year? Drastic times call for drastic measures; are there any areas of your business that could do with a good tidy up? Does that stockroom need a clear out?
January doesn’t have to be a slow month if you keep busy. Use it as the perfect opportunity to nail productivity.
Run a competition
You might already be hosting a January sale or a similar cut-price event in your business, but have you thought about a competition for your social media channels?
Hosting a competition is a simple and affordable way to appeal to new customers and appease your already loyal base. Most competitions centre around one of two marketing facets; generating leads or raising brand awareness. Think about which could benefit your business more in the January slump.
Social media competitions do require a lot of planning and thought. They’re not something you can just throw out into the World Wide Web and hope for the best. Have a clear goal or objective and focus on achieving it. For example, if you’d like to increase brand awareness why not run a ‘RT to win’ themed competition on Twitter? If you’d like to capture more leads, start using Mailchimp, or Twitter’s built-in lead capture, or create a capture form for a competition page for your website.
Have a brand-focused prize; is there much point enticing people with a new iPad if your business isn’t tech focussed? Make sure your competition is on brand and communicates your business positively.
Create a sense of urgency
If you’ve decided to put together a January sale or something similar, you must create a sense of urgency surrounding the discounts. No one will take notice otherwise.
Common tactics include flash sales whereby a certain product or service is on sale for a limited time only – usually for a few hours or half a day – thereby encouraging customers to cough up right there and then to avoid missing out on a cracking deal.
Another way to drum up some business, especially if you have physical stock available, is to let customers know how many you have left. Yes, you could make it up and say you’re down to your last few in order to get that customer to make a snap purchase; it depends on your moral compass.
Stay positive
As we’ve touched upon, January isn’t the most cheerful time of the year. However, for your employees, your customers and yourself, it’s important to stay positive. Talk to both your customers and your employees, find out how they’re feeling about the New Year and coach them into a positive mindset. Successful entrepreneur Tanya Prive, states that, ‘You want to keep your team motivated towards the continued success of the company, and keep the energy levels up. Whether that means providing snacks, coffee, relationship advice, or even just an occasional beer in the office, remember that everyone on your team is a person. Keep the office mood a fine balance between productivity and playfulness.’
What about contractors and freelancers?
If you’re in a sector in which you have to actively look for work or wait for it to come to you, January might be the ideal time to check in with clients from the previous calendar year.
A well-written email wishing them a prosperous 2016 and letting them know how much you enjoyed working alongside them might put you at the forefront of their minds when project planning for the year.
As it’s a fresh year, many businesses are putting strategies in place for the coming months, and freelance work should be readily available if you’re looking in the right places.
Darren Fell is founder and managing director of Crunch Accounting.
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