Marketing Your Products And Services at The End Of The Year

The last few months, we have covered numerous times the importance of quarter four. Today, we are chatting specifically about marketing your products and services at the end of the year.

This will include a quick background on why the end of the year is different when it comes to your marketing efforts. We will also provide three suggestions on finishing the year strong along with actionable tips.

Marketing Your Products And Services At The End Of The Year: 3 Challenges

People’s attention is lower

We are all busy during the last few months of the year. This is often because of travel plans as well as spending time with our friends and family during the holiday season. The fact is, people simply aren’t paying attention like they do the rest of the year. 

More aggressive promotions from your competitors

It’s the holiday season, and we all know what that means: holiday campaigns. The last quarter of the year is often the most profitable for companies. Expect the competition to be fierce. 

Lower disposable income

Even though people are often spending a ton of money at this time of the year (which you can use to your advantage), that means they have less to spend on other offers. Keep this in mind when marketing your products and services at the end of the year.

3 Tips For Marketing Your Products And Services At The End Of The Year

With the challenges laid out above, it can be difficult for certain businesses to stay profitable (or at least make the amount of money that they are capable of). However, it’s most certainly possible – with the right action plan. 

Here are our best tips for marketing your products and services at the end of the year.

1) Frame your products and services as an investment

The end of the year is when people start looking to next year. It’s often the case that they have begun the process of planning their New Year’s resolutions. For this type of customer, now is an ambitious time. You can get them to spend money on your product or service by positioning yourself as an investment in themselves over the next year.

Just think about a gym. At the end of the year, a gym is probably better served by framing their memberships in the context of the next year – not the current one. People want to invest in their success. It’s your job to show them how your product or service provides that.

2) Try to stand out from the crowd

We’ve covered what the competition looks like during this time of year. Your competitors all want a piece of the pie, and they are vying for your audience’s attention. That’s why you have to figure out ways to be different. While this can entail a number of different strategies, here are just a few you might consider:

• Make your copy funny. We have covered before how important copywriting is – regardless of the industry or time of year. Of course, if your brand’s copy is usually on the more serious side, this might be a step to skip. You don’t want a sudden change in voice that creates a disconnect with your audience. Check out our article about the importance of brand consistency for more information.
• Implement more engaging content types. Most organizations these days have a blog. Much fewer make articles in different formats, and even fewer venture into videos. Think about how you can switch things up. If you want an overview of our own strategy, be sure to give our ultimate guide to content marketing a look.
• Create effective ads. Social media use usually goes up during the last few months of the year. People’s friends and family are doing interesting things, taking pictures and videos, and your audience doesn’t want to miss them. Check out our ultimate guide to PPC for some necessary background information before diving into your first campaign.

3) Give people great discounts

If people are unwilling to spend money, a discount can be a great way to at least get them through the door. This can then be followed up with effective upsells. After all, with the right kind of offer, many people can be convinced to spend more money than they were originally planning.

Here’s another way that discounts can help in marketing your products and services during the end of the year: link purchases in Q4 to special deals in Q1. This is an especially effective strategy if the special deal of Q1 is something they’ve previously demonstrated interest in.

Click here to download our checklist!

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