These five SCV small business tips will help you finish the year strong and kick off the new year with success. 

For most of us, this is the busiest time of the year in our personal lives and professional lives. 

But that’s exactly why it’s so important to approach this season with a solid plan. 

Whether your goals are to maximize holiday revenue or to set a strong foundation for next year, these five steps will help you make the most of 2022 – and prepare for your best 2023. 

SCV Small Business Tips: 5 Ways To Finish The Year Strong

1. Plan Your Seasonal Marketing Campaigns 

Probably the most pressing items on your end-of-year to-do list are your seasonal marketing campaigns. Whether you’re gearing up for Black Friday or simply reminding your clients of your gratitude for their support, this is an important time to connect with your audience. 

To craft a targeted and compelling seasonal campaign, start by considering your goals. Do you want to boost revenue with a holiday promotion or flash sale? Do you want to make your clients feel special with a thoughtful gift? Or maybe you just want to take advantage of some important branding opportunities with a year-in-review newsletter or new-year teaser. 

While your goal will determine the best campaign for you, it’s important to stop and take a moment to put together an intentional plan – otherwise your brand could get lost in all the holiday noise. 

Here are a few marketing ideas to consider: 

• Gratitude message to your customers via video, email, blog, etc. 
• Holiday card featuring your team to send out to your entire audience
• Holiday gift for your most important customers and power partners
• Seasonal promotion marketed with social media posts, video and/or email
• Flash sale for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or other seasonal holiday
• Year-in-review video, newsletter or blog that covers your annual milestones as a brand
• Preview that teases your products/services for next year via a video, catalog or email 

2. Conduct An Annual Business Review 

Once you have your seasonal marketing campaigns worked out, it’s time to dig into the annual business planning tasks that will help you learn from this year and prepare for next year. 

Without taking these crucial steps, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of your endless to-do list and lose sight of the big picture. Before you know it, it will be Jan. 1, and you won’t have your goals figured out – nonetheless be ready to actually launch the campaign or marketing strategy you’ve been talking about implementing for 6 months. 

By reviewing 2022 now, you’ll learn what worked and what didn’t, so you can have a clear view of how to move forward with success in 2023. You can get ahead of the curve and start the year feeling prepared and more motivated than ever. 

Here are a few ideas to wrap up 2022 with clarity: 

• Review the goals you set at the start of the year 
• Assess your progress on each goal and see what still needs to be done
• Review your monthly revenue targets to see which months were weak/strong
• Try to gain insight on what worked and what didn’t 
• Review your 2022 marketing plan and analyze any data you can collect from your campaigns 
• Try to gain insight on each strategy and how it performed 
• Conduct a brand assessment by laying out all your marketing materials and checking them for consistency (learn how with this blog) 

3. Look Ahead At Next Year

Once you’ve collected some valuable data and insights from your annual business review, it’s time to put that information to work for next year.

Use your revenue from 2022 to help you determine a realistic but aspirational goal for 2023. Then, using your monthly revenue goal, break that down into smaller sales goals. Focus on the number of customers you need instead of the dollar amount. Finally, it’s time to brainstorm marketing ideas to help reach those people each month.

Now you should have a clear view of the tasks and marketing campaigns you need to implement in the new year. After all, when you know where you’re starting from, it’s easy to see clearly where you need to go. 

Here are a few planning tasks to get you started on a powerful 2023: 

• Set your annual and monthly revenue goals
• Break down those goals into the number of customers you need to serve each month and week 
• Determine the best marketing campaigns to reach your targets – remember to keep it consistent not complicated
• Consider a strategic planning session to break down your campaigns into tasks and deadlines 

4. Re-energize Your Team

Once you have your goals in place, it’s time to involve your team. After all, you’ll need their buy-in and support if you want to be able to execute your goals. Plus, creating excitement and motivation among your staff will only increase your success and improve your results. 

There are many ways to involve your staff, and you may even want to bring them in from the beginning with your strategic planning sessions from step three. You can also consider holding individual or small group sessions to check in with your team and see what they need to move forward with success. 

If you’re looking for something a little less formal, consider a team building experience such as a wine and painting night, Headshot Happy Hour with SchlickArt, or even a professional development experience like the StrengthsFinder Team workshop. Or you can always keep it simple with a fun holiday party that treats your whole team to some good food, drinks and gifts. 

Here are a few fun and/or professional ways to re-energize your team: 

• Hold a team meeting to communicate your goals and find ways to encourage or incentivize others to work toward meeting them 
• Hold individual or small-group check-ins if you want to take the temperature of your staff 
• Plan a team building activity geared toward professional development, entertainment or both 
• Host a holiday party for the team that makes people feel appreciated and excited to work for your brand 

5. Strengthen Your Relationships 

Once you’ve figured out your plans for this year, planned next year, and brought in your team, the last thing you may want to consider is your other relationships. It takes more than you and your team to accomplish most goals, and growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires support from your clients, peers and community, too. 

For example, if your business relies heavily on a core set of clients, you may want to reach out to them and extend a personalized message of gratitude, or you can invite them to a lunch or round of golf.

If your plans include support from peers and power partners in your sphere of influence, then make sure to reach out to them, as well. A gift or a show of support during the holidays can go a long way.

Finally, don’t forget your community. Finding ways to invest in local organizations is a great way to connect with new people while investing in the community that invests in you. 

Here are a few ways to strengthen your relationships before the new year starts: 

• Go above and beyond for your most important clients
• Connect with power partners and find ways to support each other’s future goals 
• Make new connections by taking advantage of holiday networking opportunities
• Volunteer in your community to pay your success forward

Visual Marketing In Santa Clarita 

At SchlickArt, we offer more than photography and video services to the Santa Clarita area and beyond. We do our best to provide our clients with marketing expertise and direction every chance we get. We know you need your images and video to help grow your business — that’s why you invest in them, and that’s why we do, too. Please take a minute to search through our blogs to find the visual marketing information that will help your business, or give us a call. We’re happy to help! 

About SchlickArt Photography and Video

SchlickArt, a boutique photo and video studio in Santa Clarita, started in March 2012 with the simple idea that empowerment creates a kind of beauty and authenticity that shines through every camera lens. Built on a philosophy — rather than a product, service or person — SchlickArt has rapidly evolved, meeting professional portraiture, business photo and business video needs as diverse as the community we capture. It’s the desire to take care of you, the client, that drives us at SchlickArt.