Taking care of your marketing so you can take care of your business.

Hello Winter...

The good news is that it's not long until the Winter Solstice

on 21st December and the days will (slowly) start getting longer again. While Jack does look smart in his fluorescent collar, we much prefer walkies in daylight.

But don't wish this season away entirely. There are lots of things to look forward to and it's a great time to take stock in order to start the New Year on a positive note. With that in mind, read on for:

❄️ Should customer retention be a priority for your business (and, if so, some tips on doing it effectively)?

❄️ My 100 Day marketing challenge: an action plan to get results in (actually) only 69 working days.

❄️Have you set up competitor monitoring on LinkedIn?

❄️ Some topical suggestions to keep your socials from freezing up this winter!

Thanks for reading and have a lovely Christmas!

Claire

If you need marketing help, send up the Minerva signal!

How important is customer retention for you?

Most businesses are geared to pushing for sales - new customers - constantly. While that is undoubtedly very useful, it can detract efforts from ensuring that you also keep hold of the customers you already have.

Starting with a simple calculation to work out your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), you can make some sensible decisions on getting the balance between sales and retention activities right for your business. For a small business, it doesn't have to be rocket science but there are advantages that small businesses can be capitalising on. Read on to find out more...

(Once again, image credit to Google Gemini AI. Although use of AI is clearly an environmental disaster - more on that in a future blog - considered use when you can't find the right image is a big help!)

100 Day Marketing Challenge

100 days, about 3 months, 14 weeks or 69 working days. The idea for this challenge came from the realisation that my parents' wedding anniversary (16th September) is exactly 100 days from Christmas. It's a fact that, now I know it, I can't un-know it!

It also dawned on me that it's not unusual for marketers to have a tight deadline to generate results. Whether it's a new product launch, a rebrand or simply a push to pick up some momentum, having a deadline always focuses efforts.

And so the 100 day challenge was born. In just 20 minutes of activity each day, planned towards your main objective, you can achieve real results with you social media marketing.

There is an action plan, lots of tips and tools and a printable checklist that details what action you should be taking each (working) day. You can even batch tasks on quieter days or catch-up over weekends if that works better for you. Anyway, please explore it here and do let me know how you get on!

Keeping up with the Joneses...

Did you know that you can (discreetly) track your competitors' performance on LinkedIn? It's worth doing, if only as a benchmark for your own performance. I'd suggest picking a couple of organisations who you think do what you do really well, then perhaps a couple who are more 'middle of the road' so you get a range. You can add more or unfollow if you find it's not working.

Doing it is easy. Follow the screenshot above from the admin' end of your LinkedIn company page. Click the 'Analytics' option in the menu on the left, then 'Competitors' along the top. Click 'Edit (or Add) Competitors' to decide who to follow. LinkedIn will then give you some comparative metrics so you can see how you're doing. It could give you some inspiration!

Content ideas for this winter

Remember my 'rule of thirds' for social posts: a roughly equal balance of genuinely useful, entertaining and then the more sales-focused. Here are some suggestions...

Decembeard

1st - Cyber Monday

5th - International Volunteers Day

11th - Christmas Jumper Day (Save The Children)

12th - Marconi transmits the first radio signal (1901)

17th - last Second Class posting day (UK)

31st - Marie Curie received her 2nd Nobel prize (1911)

Walk Your Dog Month

2nd - Victory Day in Cuba

5th - Twelfth Night

10th - The Normans conquer Palermo, Sicily (1072)

19th - Blue Monday / Brew Monday

23rd - RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch weekend

27th - Holocaust Memorial Day

LGBT History Month

5th - Six Nations Rugby tournament starts

11th - International Day of Women & Girls in Science

14th - International Book Giving Day

16th-20th - Hampshire schools half-term

17th - Chinese New Year (Year of the Fire Horse)

17th - Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras / Pancake Day

Share the love!

Feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think might like to read it. They can subscribe to their own copy in future by completing the 'Join our mailing list' form on my website, here.

Do let them know that might need to mark this email address as 'Not Junk' so it doesn't end up in their spam. This mailer is sent from: noreply@sp.eocampaign1.com on behalf of; Claire Sutton <claire@minerva-marketing.co.uk>

You received this email because you subscribed to our list. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Registered address: c/o David Gamblin, Chartered Accountant
71 The Hundred
Romsey
SO51 8BZ
United Kingdom