As the year rapidly reaches its denouement, are you looking back at the past 12 months with fulfillment or frustration? Were you able to achieve everything you set out to, or did you find yourself running to stand still?
If you’re frustrated with how little you managed to accomplish this year, let’s take a moment and think how we can use some simple forward planning to make next year far more successful.
Solopreneur or Microbusiness?
This post is a message to all those businesses just like mine. Whether you’re a solopreneur like me or consider yourself as a micro business then we probably have these three things in common:
- No Time
- No Team
- No Budget
Are your plans compromised because of a lack in all, or some of these departments? You’ve only got one pair of hands and it can be a real struggle to get everything done throughout the year when you’re so busy completing projects for your clients and running the day-to-day administration of your business.
Could some forward planning now, help put one area of your business – marketing and promotions – on autopilot? Giving you the time to move your business to the next level?
What To Do Now
- Find somewhere quiet and comfortable to sit with your diary and laptop and scrap paper. Close all distractions and set aside 1 hour of total concentration.
- Right, what have you got coming up next year? Go through your diary month by month and note down things like:
– Conferences: are you attending or having a stand at any?
– Tradeshows: visiting or exhibiting at any?
– Product Launch: are you planning any new products next year. Have you penciled in any launch dates yet?
– Services: are you adding any additional services to your roster?
– Any Key Calendar dates that you could take advantage of? Obvious dates such as Valentines Day, Easter etc.. But there may be some less obvious ones that you could link up to depending on the nature of your business. Take a look at www.cute-calendar.com for ideas. - Now you’ve identified key events in next years calendar, now you need to think how you can use these to market, raise awareness and promote your business.
- Let’s divide your marketing material into categories ….
Categories For Creating Content
- Phone Messages :
- Tweets
- Animations: Explainer Vids for new products or services /
- Videos : Tradeshow promotions /
- Audio : Articles / Blog Posts / Newsletters
- Photos
- Email Marketing
- Commercials
Phone Messages
Are you updating your on-hold message on a regular basis?
Plan to create 12 updated on hold messages that you can release throughout the year. Make sure you let your callers know about…
- the Conferences you’re exhibiting at
- New products you’ve launched and how they can benefit your customers
- New or updated services you’re adding to the roster
- Special promotions on key holidays
- Give some free tips and hints to help your callers and customers
Tweets
Can you create 12 months worth of tweets – one tweet a day for each weekday. Remember to include fun and flippant tweets and those that offer value to your followers, not just ones that are purely promotional. Don’t forget to tweet out other peoples content too – even your competitors.
Animations
Have you used Explainer Videos on your website? If you’re creating and launching new products and services next year, make sure you pencil in the creation of supporting explainer animations as part of your marketing strategy. Start thinking about the benefits these products/services offer your clients and the problems they solve. Why not write the first draft of a script now and start thinking what text, images and voiceover could be included to demonstrate your ideas.
The ‘Explainer Video’ is a really excellent tool to place on your website product/service page and Youtube channel. It serves several purposes not least in engaging and informing your viewers, but also encouraging your visitors to stay on your website and improving your sites ‘stickability’.
However, you could also create mini-animations, 20-30 seconds each, which you could use as part of your social media strategy. For example, I have created a series of animated clips which present the viewer with a simple idea, tip or reminder on the topics of phone voiceovers, e-learning voiceovers and explainer video voiceovers. Take a look at a couple of examples below:
These types of animations are so simple to create, and the best thing is they can be used again and again as the information doesn’t date.
Essentially its 2 sentences – one is written in text, followed by the second which is narrated. You can add music if you wish, or leave off the audio completely.
If you would like some help creating a series of clips just like these do let me know. I can help you put the whole piece together – the animation, text, voiceover and background music as required. Get in touch to discuss further : alison@thephonevoice.com
Videos
Much like the animations, you could also create videos using stock photography or your own photos or you could record yourself ‘on camera’.
I have created some longer form videos as an alternative way to showcase an article or blog post. Here’s an example:
Again if you would like some assistance creating this form of content, please get in touch. I can put together a similar video for you and also include voiceover if needed.
Audio
Articles / Blog Posts / Newsletters – Make sure you have an audio version of your blog posts and articles. Repurpose older posts into audio files and upload and share them on Soundcloud & Chirbit for example. You may also consider starting a podcast as part of your marketing mix.
Photos
Sometimes it just takes a photo to get your message across. You can use apps like Wordswag and Canva to add your logo and text to personalise each photo. Can a photo be a quicker and more effective marketing method in some areas of your business. Take a moment to list what images you could use to support your marketing and promotional activities each month.
Email Marketing
Would it help to outline a weekly or monthly newsletter in advance. List what topic you can cover each week and month. Are you creating video, audio or photographic content that can be included in your email? Make sure you make each piece of content you create work hard – include it in a newsletter, share on social media and add it to your blog.
Commercials
If your budget allows, you might be considering creating some TV or radio commercials. A commercial could market new products or services or promote a special offer or holiday discounts. Don’t forget, you could also create pre-roll ads for online usage such as YouTube. May be worth pencilling some research time to look at how other companies are using online ads. They could be a more cost-effective advertising method that traditional TV or Radio commercials.
Can I Help You?
If you can’t create 12 months of content ideas in one go, don’t despair! Why not start with the first quarter. Outline the key dates and the types of marketing channels you think would best support their promotion.
If you find content creation difficult start researching people who could help. Do you need assistance with copywriting, animation production, voiceover artists for example. Don’t forget to look at what others are doing – and use their work as inspiration to generate ideas.
If I can help you grow and market your business, please do get in touch. I can help not only with Voiceovers, but Animation creation and video creation. I’m always happy to advise on copywriting if needed. Get in touch today and we can work through how we can take you and your business forward: alison@thephonevoice.com