What to Actually Do to Have an Effective End of Year Marketing Planning Meeting (Part 1)
It’s December, Christmas is right around the corner and there’s one thing that’s on everyone’s mind, right?
Yes, Christmas and getting into the holiday spirit (or spirits - hello egg nog!)
But also that looming feeling of not hitting those ambitious goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year.
Ya know, there are a couple of things I absolutely love to do for my end of the year holiday reset. Let’s just call between now and 2024 a rest and reset period shall we.
Over the next two emails I’m going to dive into the 5 easy steps you can take to do effective end of the year planning so that you actually hit your goals next year.
While step 1 through 3 may surprise you, step 4 is a complete game changer.
This is going to be a two-part series because hey - who doesn’t like a good cliffhanger as you’re clenched to the edge of your seat waiting for the next episode to drop, am I right?
Let me tell you a story…
The other day I was talking to my good friend who does sound bath therapy (which by the way is absolutely amazing for clearing mental blocks from your past so that you can move forward into your future.)
Anyways, she just held a session with a small group of people. And at the most recent session, she set the intention with the group for everyone to forgive yourself for all the things you didn’t do.
Perhaps your goal was to grow your social media followers, or to bring in more leads this year, or even to scale up your referrals from clients.
Rest assured the time has passed and the best thing to do is look forward to the change you will create in your future.
There’s zero reason to wallow around in guilt talking about should’a, could’a, would’a.
You’re a smart business owner and you and I both know that gets you absolutely nowhere.
So let’s do it together - 1, 2, 3 “I forgive me.” And boom! Let’s keep to step 2.
Step 2 - Write down the specific actions you took that went well
Even if you didn’t hit your goals, you still did some things well. There’s absolutely no way you f’d up everything this year. You didn’t and neither did your team.
I’m not talking about burying your head in the sand and dismissing all the problems.
But what I am referring to is realizing that the fact you are a business owner means you are doing something right - even if all it is was that you decided you were going to have a business. That takes guts to bump against the norm.
So here’s your challenge to do before the clock strikes 12 a.m. on January 1st.
Grab a freshly sharpened pencil and a piece of paper - and write down 5 things you’re grateful for that you did well this year.
And if you’re an overachiever, write down 10 things. It will start to get hard after you hit 7.
But writing down what you're grateful for with your own hands (not on a computer screen) will release dopamine and serotonin in your brain giving you a nice boost of happiness. (Source here)
Step 3 - Journal out what you did that actually helped you hit your goals (or have forward momentum)
Stick with me.
Now this is a little different than the exercise above.
While above you may journal out specific actions that you took… Here I want you to go a bit more in-depth and talk about what you did that actually helped you hit your goals (or gain momentum).
I’ll start with me for example - I started having weekly accountability calls with my friend who just started her business around the same time as me.
Each week, we hop on a call and talk about what went well that week and where we need support.
I’ve found that these calls have helped me gain so much forward momentum and allowed me to bounce ideas off of each other.
She helps me gain more clarity, avoid shiny object syndrome, remove anything that could block my growth, and we encourage each other to step our game up - there are no excuses on these calls!
I’ve done these types of accountability calls in the past.
But I’ve found that having accountability calls with the right people (people who are serious about their stuff and have similar goals) has been a game changer for me.
Now it’s your turn friend. You know the dealio -
Journal out what you did that actually helped you hit your goals (or have forward momentum.)
So there you have it.
These are the first three steps to help you actually do effective end of year marketing planning.
Next week - I’ll get into the last two steps. And like I said, step 4 is a complete game changer.
Onward we go!
