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On a long journey there are many twists and turns that require critical decisions. Once you reach the very final miles, your decisions become even more meaningful.
In business, this means that at the end of the year you may need to take some short-term (but crucial) actions to generate additional revenue and end 2024 on a strong note.
The good news is that you still have time to finish strong.
In my experience, when a company grows from zero to over $100 million in annual revenue, things can get intense in the final quarter. Here are my best words of wisdom for making the last few weeks of the year as successful as possible.
Related: The How-To: End the year on a business high note
Look back at your marketing decisions to learn from them and make positive changes
In 1975, Edward Packard's Choose Your Own Adventure books were published. The series allowed the reader to choose from a variety of paths within a given storyline. Each decision made by the reader would lead to a different ending to the story.
Why did this series become so popular, selling more than 270 million copies worldwide? This is because people love to be in control of their own destiny. to write your own stories. First, ask yourself: What ending do I want to achieve this year? Then ask: What have I learned so far that will help me achieve this goal?
Have you been tracking your marketing results? If so, pull up the data and start investigating. Go beyond which channel generates the most leads. Which tactic generates the most customers? Most recommendations? Most revenue? If possible, look beyond the calendar year and compare trends from year to year.
If you let your intuition guide you, it's high time to start tracking your marketing. Feelings are not a substitute for real data.
In 2023, we conducted our own research and found that direct mail delivers six times more sales per lead than digital ads. We found this out by analyzing 114,373 leads and which of them converted into sales this year. What we found is that when we divide revenue by total leads, we earned $229.41 for each postcard lead versus $37.09 for each pay-per-click lead.
Following this realization, we increased the number of postcards we send weekly to promote our services by 20,000. It is your responsibility to do this work and figure out what needs to change for positive growth.
For example, did Facebook ads not bring in the expected sales? You can invest the money you had planned in December in digital advertising and redirect it to other marketing channels such as direct mail or connected TV advertising.
The truth is that there really are no mistakes, only lessons learned. It's up to you to decide whether to make changes to achieve a better result.
Consolidate your remaining resources and dedicate them to the marketing channel with the highest ROI
About 3,000 people hike the Appalachian Trail each year, but only a quarter of hikers actually complete it. A major reason hikers fail is because they run out of supplies. Likewise, in business, owners may encounter challenges throughout the year that tax their resources.
If you feel like you're struggling in the last quarter of the year, it's time to use the rest of your budget and any other available credit or reserves to market your business.
Which marketing strategies delivered the highest return on investment? Whatever you have left of your marketing budget should go toward this tactic. If you don't have much of your annual budget left, consider taking money from other sources to reinvest into your marketing to get more leads.
It could be as easy as finding savings by canceling a monthly membership. Whatever you do, put as much money as possible back into the marketing tactics that have consistently delivered results. Then next year you will have more income that you can invest back into your business or take home by 2025.
Related: What I learned from spending $5.9 million on marketing last year
Take advantage of potential tax savings by prepaying for next year's marketing activities
At the end of the journey it's not just about finishing well – it's also about preparing for future success. By using some of the profits you made in 2024 to market in 2025 before the end of the year, you will be one step ahead of the competition. Not only will you enter the new year well prepared, but you will also benefit from reducing your tax bill in 2024 if you reinvest taxable profits into your business and marketing.
At my company PostcardMania, we offer big discounts for bulk orders, which many business owners benefit from before the end of the year. They simply add up how much marketing they think they will need for the following year and then pre-purchase at a discount.
If you're a B2B company, you can implement a similar offer by encouraging your customers to pre-order what they need next year so they can get the current year's tax write-offs.
If you want to target customers each year with a year-end offer, you can reach them faster with automated direct mail. Once you set up direct mail automation once, the postcards or letters will be automatically sent every year based on the criteria you set up. This will save you time and increase your sales by ensuring this happens every year without interruption.
Related: 4 Marketing Triggers You Need to Set Up Now to Liven Up Your New Year
At the end of the year, it's satisfying to say you gave it your all; You did the best you could with the resources available. Avoid regrets by considering these marketing paths to success, and then you'll be happy with the ending you've always wanted to write.