Fourth-Quarter Holiday Marketing Strategies Worth Considering

If you're a football fan, you love this time of year. From televised Thanksgiving classics to postseason nail-biters, the final months of the year offer ample opportunity to follow your favorite teams in their quest for greatness. And you probably know how dramatically fortunates can turn in that all-important fourth quarter. Well, now we're in the fourth quarter of the business year, what's the "score" in your own quest for profitability and visibility? You still have time to put some points on the board before the clock runs out, so let's look at some powerful marketing strategies for making the most of 2023.

Engage in Experiential Marketing

If you want to make a big splash in the most public manner possible, there's nothing like experiential marketing tactics to put you quite literally in front of your target audience. Experiential marketing includes all those events that allow you to interact directly with the public, with the holiday season serving as the ideal backdrop. The type of experiential marketing you engage in will depend partly on what kinds of products and services you offer. If you're in the food or dining industry, for instance,  you may want to offer samples of your wares or even full-blown cooking demonstrations in a grocery or home goods store. If you're in the tech industry, maybe you should put up a kiosk at a local community event, raffling off big-ticket electronics or discounts for future purchases. The point is: Get out there!

Host (or at Least Attend) Holiday Networking Events

For many businesses, "getting out there" also means networking. Now, I know that not everyone belongs to a year-round networking organization or enjoys attending constant chamber events. But the final months of the year open up numerous seasonal networking opportunities in the form of company parties and open houses in support of various causes. Do you have a brick-and-mortar facility that can accommodate lots of foot traffic? If so, why not host such an event so your favorite clients and business partners can invite and mingle with first-time visitors? If you can't host such an event yourself, make sure to attend a few of them so you can make new connections both inside and outside your industry.

Send Thank-You Notes and Gifts

People love to be recognized -- and the final quarter of the year serves as a natural summing-up time in which to express your appreciation for your vendor partners, employees, and customers. You'd be amazed at the power of a simple thank-you note, especially when it displays both eloquence and personalization. A skilled copywriter can provide the fomer, while handwritten text (or a properly convincing script-style font) can help convey the latter. If you want to grab the attention of your VIP clients, it's time to turn to the actual gifts. seek out a promotional products company that can provide extra-special gifts that include your brand name and logo. Your VIPs will definitely think of you going into next year, and who knows what that extra awareneness could do for your revenue?

Appeal to End-of-Year Customer Needs

People often need more help than usual as they prepare for seasonal activities, from making sure their plumbing can accommodate a houseful of guests to figuring out how to hang holiday decorations safely or get their business's books in order. These folks will naturally be Googling for solutions; the question is, will your brand pop up in their line of vision when they do? Now is the time to pump out those timely blog articles addressing the needs, and topics in question. It's also the time to make sure your online presence is optimized for local and mobile searches. Many of your ideal customers are out and about doing their shopping, after all -- so when they search for the nearest solution to their problem, you want to appear at the top of those search results.

Take these strategies to heart, and your fourth quarter may turn out to be a big winner for your brand. Meanwhile, if you need some quick, efficient professional assistance in putting some of that fourth-quarter marketing content together, you know who to call!

Networking and Content Marketing: A Profitable Combination

If you're reading this post, then you already have some understanding of content marketing, whether you realize it or not. The creation of regular content relevant to your audience's interests has become a major element in any modern marketing plan. But old-fashioned person-to-person networking isn't going away by any means. Nearly 100 percent of study participants still regard face-to-face meetings as critical to business relationship development, with some 90 percent of them preferring small groups for their hobnobbing efforts. Even in the age of digital social media, platforms such as Meetup.com have created a mashup of online and offline interaction for business and personal relationship building. What's the essential bridge between these two forms of marketing? You guessed it -- it's the intelligent use of high-quality copywriting. Let's look at some of the ways your written content serves your networking efforts and vice-versa.

Marketing "Leave-Behinds" That Keep You From Getting Left Behind

Networking encounters are notorious for making minimal impact unless they're properly cultivated. You might come from from any given event with a stack of business cards that made sense at the time you collected them -- but not a few days later, when they all go into the circular file. Rest assured (?) that most of the cards you handed out await a similar fate. Even in a one-to-one meeting, the wealth of information you obtain from a new connection may fade from your brain more quickly than you would expect. But what if you're holding an eye-catching onesheet or brochure chock full of exciting content? Now you have a quick, handy, compelling reminder of that connection's value. Make sure your own printed "leave-behinds" make this kind of impression.

A Ready-for Prime-Time Web Presence

How do you handle that questions inevitably asked at networking events: "Do you have a website?" If you don't, you've got some explaining to do. If you do, you may feel more like apologizing for it than sending people to it. Is your web content up to date? Does it represent your current brand image, values and vision? Are your most important products and services given the proper promotion? Seriously, don't even put that next big networking event on your calendar until you've gotten these very big ducks in a row. Interested connections will most likely check out your site before they follow up with you -- not only to learn more about what you've told them, but also to get a sense of your legitimacy and professionalism. Don't let your virtual storefront let them down.

Keeping in Touch Through Content Marketing

If you've been in sales for any length of time (and let's face it, we're all in sales), then you know that it takes a minimum of seven "touches" to take a connection from initial awareness to an actual purchase. This degree of thoroughness can wear you out if you try to accomplish it entirely through old-fashioned calls -- but modern content marketing practices make it a breeze. You can create a drip email campaign, for instance, that sends out specific marketing mini-articles, special offers, and other enticements based on your connections' current positions in you sales funnel. You can also keep populating your blog (and therefore your website) with fresh, useful news, tips, and trending information as a means of turning your first-time visitors into regular guests.

Make no mistake, networking does work -- but only if you support it with effective content marketing strategies. Hire a freelance copywriter to help you generate that content, and you'll find that your getting greater value out of every in-person connection you make!

Want More Effective Marketing Content? Start by Defining Your Audience

If you want your business to get noticed, reinforce its credibility and ultimately win new customers, you probably know that you have to create an ongoing stream of high-quality marketing content. But what if you're already doing that, only to find that it's having no effect on your bottom line? It may be time to take a closer look at whether you're actually aiming that compelling content at the right people -- because if you aren't, then it isn't (compelling, that is).

Content Marketing for One

Drawing the clearest possible picture of your target audience involves getting as granular as you possibly can, visualizing not a specific industry, not a specific audience segment, but a specific person. It's no wonder that some of history's most successful authors pretended that they were writing for one particular individual; this approach clarified their approach, style and tone, while guaranteeing that at least one sort of reader would be electrified by the content. On a less elevated level, "King of All Media" Howard Stern has often said that he doesn't even try to entertain the whole world; instead, he focuses entirely on making co-host Robin Quivers laugh. The purer an image you have of your audience, the purer (and more effective) you can make your marketing content.

How do you create this ideal client or customer? Don't just use your imagination or instincts -- use data. Collect all the information you can about your current clientele's demographics, behaviors, likes/dislikes, geography, et cetera. Then distill all this information on paper in the form of an audience persona. There's a great sample here with no fewer than 50 relevant questions to help you build a detailed, if hypothetical, ideal target for your marketing content.

Finding the Right Words for Your Target Market

Specificity is critical regardless of which marketing channels you use. For instance, my networking group gives each member a moment during the meeting to describe his or her ideal referral for that week. That's a powerful marketing opportunity -- but not when the description consists of phrases such as "somebody who needs X" or "any company who could use help with Y." These folks aren't likely to get any referrals from me that week. Why not? Because "someone" or "anyone" doesn't give me a clear mental image of the person that networking partner wishes to get hooked up with. And if you're having trouble stating exactly who your ideal referral is, there just might be a chance that you haven't defined that image clearly enough in your own mind. Time to get to work on that audience persona!

Having that all that, I should point out that it's possible to make your parameters too narrow. For instance, I might declare that my ideal prospects are people with the job title of Marketing Coordinator. After all, marketing coordinators are the ones who assign marketing tasks such as content creation to professionals like me, right? But what about business owners -- don't they need the services of freelance copywriters and other marketing experts? Maybe I should step back a bit and name my ideal prospects as "marketing decision makers." This still gives me a well-defined chunk of the population to address, while ensuring that I don't accidentally exclude an important market.

Get clear on who you want to talk to, and finding the right words will come a lot more easily. If you're not a natural wordsmith, a professional marketing writer can help you craft powerful, persuasive statements aimed at that perfect prospect. But however you do it, get specific -- and get results!

3 Tips for Steering Your Small Business Through a Summertime Slump

Small businesses typically see less activity during the summer months (and as a one-person shop, businesses don't come any smaller than mine, so I know whereof I speak). For one thing, it's hard to get vacationing decision makers on the phone or schedule one-to-one meetings with them. But it's not just you -- even Wall Street tends to take a nap at this time of year. So how do you keep afloat and productive during this annual lull? Here are three suggestions.

1. Offer Summer Specials

As soon as school is out and the mercury starts to rise, what do you see? Special offers everywhere, from holiday-themed sales to back-to-school discounts. You've probably responded to a few of these hot deals in your time -- and you can employ the same strategy to boost your own business during the summer doldrums. You don't have to sell swimming apparel or barbecue frills to benefit from this strategy, either. Anything that appeals to a B2C or B2B audience can move if it you give it the right kind of push. A back-to-school sale, for instance, can pay off hugely whether you're selling clothes, electronic gear, Internet bandwidth or just about anything else that you can tie back to the theme. People are always ready to take advantage of a great offer -- and summertime always provides a great excuse to make them one!

2. Keep Networking

I've written more than once about the power of networking to put you in front of prospective buyers, vendor partners and referral buddies. But at this time of year, I usually see a drop-off in the number of business owners and sales reps attending networking groups and events. Some of these people are on a well-deserved vacation; others are wrangling kids at home and can't make their usual breakfast or lunch meetings; still others are ducking the oppressive heat we get here in Central Texas. The scrawny attendance numbers only encourage others to skip as well. ("Ahh, nobody's gonna be there anyway....") Come September, of course, these folks realize that they have zero new business coming in. Oops!

Don't let all the great excuses for not networking keep you out of the mix this summer. By all means, enjoy your vacation and keep your kids out of trouble -- but whenever possible, go out of your way to make strategic appearances here and there. You want to remain visible, stay in the interactive groove, and have those lucrative business conversations with networking partners, if only to make sure you're actually laboring by Labor Day.

3. Spruce Up Your Marketing Content

One of the biggest obstacles for so many of us who are responsible for our own marketing is the sheer time and effort required to get our marketing content up to date and up to scratch. Blogging, for instance, requires a steady commitment, while permanent website content must reflect the business's current products, services, brand identity and overall mission. On top of that, there may be sales letters to create, press releases to write, and who knows what else.

If your summer is a bit on the sleepy side, why not use it to get caught up (or even ahead) on your marketing content? For instance, you can create a whole pile of blog articles on evergreen topics for later publication. You can rewrite or even redesign your entire website to make sure it's packing a stronger punch. Or you can sit down and devise that new long-range marketing plan you've really needed ever since you first opened your doors. Summertime can be a very productive marketing time, with or without professional assistance.

So don't let the dog days of summer drag your small business down. Fight back by making this time of year pay off big time. Have a great summer -- and a profitable year!

Networking Pointers for Writers

As I’ve said on many previous occasions, networking can be a really effective way to establish and strengthen in-person relationships with prospective clients and referral partners. I’ve done a lot of networking over the years, and I’m planning on doing even more in the future. But this type of self-promotion doesn’t always come naturally or easily to writers, many of whom would prefer to hide behind their keyboards rather than initiate conversations with a bunch of strangers. But the return on the investment can be substantial -- if you’re doing it right. Here are some networking pointers aimed at you writers in the crowd, although they'll also work for just about anyone else.

1. Paint a Clear Picture

As a writer, you already know the importance of painting a vivid picture in the mind's eye. Say “I’m a writer” to someone, and you could set off all sorts of speculations about what might mean -- none of them specific enough to evoke a sharp image of what you actually do. This will cause you to get either no referrals at all or referrals you can’t use. If you focus on a specific type of writing, describe it as clearly and succinctly as possible: “I write Web and print marketing content for businesses” will ensure that you don’t receive technical writing referrals, for example. If there’s a particular industry or business size you concentrate on, clarify that as well. Even if you don't limit yourself to one kind of writing or client, choose some memorable, easy-to-understand specifics for the purposes of this particular event. You want those you meet to be able to tell others precisely what you provide, and for whom.

2. Describe Your Ideal Client or Partner

Once again, specifics matter, and that's where your skill at employing just the right words at the right time comes into play. Whether you’re offering your writing services directly to the person in front of you or asking that person for referrals to great networking partners, use your gift with words as precisely as possible. “I’m looking for introductions to marketing coordinators at small technology companies” is a much more helpful statement than “I want to talk to anybody who needs marketing content.” If you really want to narrow it down, ask if your conversation partner has a direct or indirect connection to a specific individual at a company you’re trying to crack. Don't be afraid of pigeonholing yourself too much -- you may get fewer referrals, but they'll be better ones.

3. Follow Up

I’m convinced that one of the reasons writers don’t find networking effective for them is because they go home from the event, put their accumulated business cards in a drawer, get back to their writing -- and forget all about what just transpired. You can’t wait for the people you conversed with to take the initiative and follow up with you; you absolutely must contact them shortly after the event, provide them with additional information about your services, schedule a second meeting, and do everything you can to send qualified referrals in their direction. Focus on cultivating relationships instead of making sales (farming versus hunting). Only then will the long-term benefits of networking pay off for your writing business. So good luck -- and happy networking!

Freelancing on the Move: How to Write from Anywhere

One of the great advantages of being a freelance writer is the fact that you can write for any client, anywhere. This opens up fascinating possibilities for people who need to earn a living but don't necessarily want to spend every moment of their lives cooped up in the same office -- or even the same city. I've heard of folks writing entire book manuscripts and other large projects while roaming the country in an RV, for instance. After all, how hard could it be? All you need is email, a Web connection, and a laptop. Right?

Well, sort of. That’s a good start, but there are other considerations to think about, too. I would expand that list to include:

• Internet/email connectivity
• Voice connectivity
• A writing machine
• A solid client base
• Peace and quiet

The technological challenges are fairly easy to overcome. Most major cell phone services have an option that enables you to use your cell phone or smart device as a mobile Wi-Fi hot spot, so you can work and communicate online as long as you’re in a place that gets decent coverage. Some RV parks offer wireless connectivity as part of their service. If your “day job” boss has sent you on an assignment that includes a hotel stay, you can simply use that facility’s Internet. Then of course there are all those free hot spots in coffee houses, restaurants and libraries across the U.S. I wouldn’t want to share sensitive information over public airwaves, but for everyday writing tasks they’re safe enough.

You choice of writing device will have an impact on how easily you can do a day’s work. For me, a proper writing machine has to have a proper keyboard, so that rules out touchscreen solutions such as tablets. I’ve found Chromebooks perfectly adequate for writing on the road, at least in most situations -- especially since you can save documents to an external thumb drive or hard drive, solving the question of limited storage. If you plan on doing a large percentage of your writing offline, however, you may want to spring for a more fully functional traditional laptop.

A solid client base is always desirable for any freelancer, but it becomes an even bigger deal when you spend long periods of time away from your home base. That’s because you’re losing opportunities to network and have face-to-face meetings with local clients and prospects. Sure, you’ll meet people on your travels, but it’s harder to turn those encounters into long-term business relationships. My advice would be to develop a deep pool of strong hometown client/colleague connections before hitting the road.

Don’t discount peace and quiet as a critical factor in your success as a mobile writer. You can’t write if you can’t hear yourself think, and that isn’t always easy when you have little no control over your surroundings. The friendly hustle and bustle of a coffee shop might boost your mood and energize your imagination -- until a screaming 2-year-old sits appears at the next table. RV parks and campgrounds can be notoriously rambunctious. Even the most sophisticated executive suite may have paper-thin walls, which is pretty much like inviting all the neighbors over to party while you try to meet that writing deadline. But don't lose hope; earplugs and iPods are among the traveling writer’s best friends. You might also get good results from synchronizing your writing schedule with quieter times of day or night.

Give these issues some thought before your next great adventure -- and then have fun writing from (and for) Anywhere, U.S.A.!

4 Things I've Learned About Freelancing

I took my first freelance writing job in 1997. A few things have changed since then -- blogging became a thing; the Internet exploded into a global shopping mall/news feed/soap box; and social media took media, well, social. But for all that, I'm not so sure that the art of freelancing itself has changed all that much, aside from the fact that there are a zillion more opportunities to practice it. So this post is aimed primarily at writers who have just started freelancing or are debating whether to bother. Without further ado, here are four insights I've gained in my years as a freelance marketing copywriter in Austin (and, thanks to the Web, everywhere else):

1. Uncertainty is a certainty. If you absolutely must have an exact dollar amount dropped into your bank account every week or month, you're better off with a 9-to-5 writing job. Freelancing isn't a feast-or-famine existence; it's a feast-and-famine existence. Your income will blow hot and cold, with good months following bad months in what almost seems a perverse rotation. The only way I've found to flatten the curve a little is to build up a large, varied clientele. The more eggs you have in your basket, the more easily you can ensure tomorrow morning's breakfast.

2. Clients come and go. When I began my writing career I made the classic mistake every freelancer makes at some point (and then never again). I had two big clients that accounted for my entire monthly nut, so I figured that I was all set for the indefinite future. Well, you can guess what happened -- the indefinite future became definite. One client decided to do all its copywriting in house, and the other got absorbed by another firm and more or less vanished in a puff of smoke. the lesson: always add new clients to your list, no matter how heavily booked you may think you are, because they will come and go. Businesses restructure; business owners change careers or retire. (Or even die. Yes, that's happened to me.)

3. You can't do it in a vacuum. Freelancing appeals to us solitary types because we're able to think and work largely unmolested by the outside world. But if you think you can spend the rest of your writing career staring serenely at your wall, think again. Whether you write marketing content for businesses or you submit articles on spec to publications, you need to get out there, talk to people, listen to people, and generally soak in what's going on and how your colleagues feel about it. For me, the most efficient way of doing that is to frequent weekly or monthly networking organizations. You may also have luck finding topic-based get-togethers on Meetup.com or similar sites. Even casual social gatherings can provide you with valuable insights and information.

4. It works if you work it. Okay, that isn't always true; there are plenty of hardworking souls for whatever reason found that freelancing simply didn't work for them. But I can at least state with confidence that it doesn't work if you don't work it. Now, if you're just coming off a brutal career in which long hours were the norm, you may well want to give yourself some slack time (if you can afford it) before plunging into your new life. But if you're attracted to freelancing because "it beats working for a living," then you'll soon find that your definition of "working" needs an adjustment. Freelancers can decide when they want to work, but not whether they want to work. That rent won't pay itself. For better or worse, you're your own boss now -- so lead wisely.

One final tip: No matter how much planning and weighing of options you do, you'll never really know whether freelancing agrees with you unless you give it a whirl, at least as a side job. Who knows -- you might find yourself sharing your own insights on the subject one of these days!

Shy People Need to Market Themselves Too

In my many years as a freelance marketing copywriter in Austin, Texas, I've encountered hundreds of remarkably talented, skilled entrepreneurs running some enormously innovative businesses. But until they actually contacted me to discuss their marketing needs, I'd never heard of them. I have no doubt that I will have many more such surprises in the future. And each time I will ask the same question: "How is it you've gone undiscovered for so long? Where have you been?"

I'll tell you where they've been -- they've been hiding. Not because they couldn't afford to market their businesses, or because they didn't want to achieve fame and fortune. They've been hiding because they are either shy or introverted by nature, or because they find self-promotion distasteful.

"Introvert" isn't a dirty word, by the way, although the extroverts of this world sometimes pronounce it as if it were. Introversion isn't exactly the same thing as shyness, even if it produces similar results. According to Psychology Today, introverted people feel emotionally drained when surrounded by large groups of people; shy individuals like being around people, but are afraid to interact with them. Both situations can bar the way to effective self-promotion -- but they certainly don't have to.

Here are some common objections I hear from people who allow introversion or shyness to interfere with their self-promotion efforts:

"I don't want to brag." Yes, you do! If you have a business to take pride in, and skills and experience to back up your claims, then you definitely want to brag. Think about the leading personalities in your field -- or in any field, for that matter. Do they come across as shrinking violets where their enterprises are concerned? Would you actually choose a business on the basis of how modestly it described itself, or would be more likely to go with one that trumpeted its achievements and abilities for all to hear?

"I can't mix with people." Did you know that Dr. Ivan Misner, the founder of Business Networking International (BNI), classifies himself as an introvert? He even claims to have trouble initiating conversations with strangers, a hallmark of shyness. Here's the leader of the world's largest business networking organization, asking people to escort him from person to person at events so he can introduce himself without awkwardness. If he can do it, so can the introverted/shy business owners of the world. You can even find consultants who will train you in public speaking and networking techniques so you feel more confident working the room.

"I don't have any great claims to make." Some business owners think that they must have a 20-year track record in their field, an international client list, and a personal endorsement from Oprah before they can market themselves or their business with any authenticity. But if that were true, no business would ever take that first step out of total anonymity. You have to start somewhere, after all -- and I guarantee that you have strengths and unique points to promote. You might need a little help pinpointing them or leveraging them in your marketing content, but believe me, they're there.

Don't let a desire to run and hide turn your business invisible. Get your message out there, loud and proud!