It’s the end of the year and you’re asking yourself, how can I possibly fit even one more thing in this month let alone ten? Trust me, even reading through this list and taking on a few of these top 10 to do’s will make an impact on your small business.
I know this time of year can be tough for small businesses. There's a pressure to hit year-end sales goals or clear out inventory -- all to end the year on a high note. We can sell and promote our hearts out, but sometimes our messages and service offers get lost in the fray when it comes to competing against bigger brands' advertising dollars. As a rule, December sees open rates, impressions and sometimes sales for service-providers as the market is saturated with competition.
That said, if you have products to market and sell or offers ready to go that your target audience is clamoring for, don't simply give up, get out there and shout about them from the roof tops. (I’ve had killer Decembers.) However, if you don’t sell products or if you’re trying to put together an offer just because “everyone else is doing it,” your time would be better spent getting started on this checklist. Trust me, these actions, planning and strategizing for 2025 will pay off.
Here is my Top 10 Check List You Can Do NOW to Help Your Small Business Thrive in 2025
Get Your Holiday Greetings Out
I’m a huge fan of sharing gratitude in the holiday season. And this means sending out holiday or Christmas cards to clients, current and past. I also reach out to those in my network who have made referrals, cheered me on and made a difference in my life, personal or otherwise. Need some tips on getting out a holiday greeting? Check out my Stay Top of Mind By Sharing Your Gratitude with Holiday Greetings blog for everything you need to know.
Google Yourself and Your Business
No, really. Many businesses set up a Google Business Profile once and don’t review it again. It’s always good to periodically put both your name and your business in the search bar. See where and how your business is being referenced. Are they accurate or outdated? Can you update them if so? Do you have any negative reviews or feedback that you didn’t respond to? Do you have any unanswered questions in your Google Profile under: “Questions & Answers”
Conduct a Brand Audit
This may take a little time to do, but the effort is worth it. (I can help too. Reach out to www.simplyk2marketing.com/lets-connect ) In this brand audit, you’re doing a deep dive into all of your marketing. You want to look at the messaging and images on: your website, your social media accounts, in your marketing and withing your Google Business Profile. Start with the brand basics. Have you developed your core Brand Foundation yet? (This is your Mission, Vision, and Positioning statements, plus your brand Values, and highly critical, identifying your Target Audience.) What to look for in your audit:
Do you clearly share your brand’s or business’ mission, values or story within your marketing?
Have your services or target audience changed? Does the messaging reflect this?
Are there ranking keywords that your audience would use to search for your business, product or services so that you're at least on level if not beating your competition?
Does your site reflect how you want to run your business or what you offer in 2025?
PRO TIP: Be introspective. Really take a fresh eye as to what key message comes through when you look at all of your branding and marketing. Is it aligned with your current or 2025 plans? If not, make time to work on your brand messaging, content and/or strategy.
BONUS POINTS: If you want to take your brand audit a step further, ask your customers for feedback to help elevate and/or improve the customer experience. Their feedback can identify pain points, improve your product offerings or potential benefits and create an opportunity for personalized experiences.
It’s All About the Metrics, Because Performance Matters
The key to a strong strategy is taking a look at what worked or resonated and what didn’t in the past year. Run reports on metrics that matter. While most will have you only focus on impressions, reach and engagement there are bigger metrics beyond those on social that you should really consider for small business success. These are my key metrics to monitor:
Lead Conversion Rate (Any new business or sign-ups that came through your marketing efforts and from which ones!)
Open Rates and Click Through Rates (CTR) for Emails
Customer Acquisition Cost or Cost Per Lead (how much did you spend to get a new client. Helps you gauge the efficiency of your marketing efforts)
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) total revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their relationship with your company. (This includes the initial engagement/purchase plus any new services you upsold them and/or repeat purchases.)
Reviewing these metrics will help identify where you should focus both your messaging and your marketing efforts.
Website Housekeeping – Don’t Overlook the Obvious
While it may seem like there are more pressing content updates to make, these two are the most often overlooked:
Update your Copywrite Date on your website on 12/30 (i.e., ©2025 from ©2024).
Is your Privacy Policy up-to-date? Location and what you may offer (e.g., you didn’t offer email subscriptions when you published it but now you do.) Do you even have one?
Privacy policies are a mandatory provision to comply with data privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, COPPA, etc.), and required if your site collects any kind of data from its visitors. Note You also need to provide a mailing address and an email so that visitors can reach out if they have questions. It’s better to be safe and compliant than sorry.
Mark Down All of Your Website and Subscription Renewal Dates on your 2025 Calendar
While you may have your subscriptions set to auto-renew, it is still a good practice to know when they expire. This gives you an opportunity to re-evaluate the service or program-level you have to see if you want to switch to a different provider, scale up or down to a different tier or eliminate something altogether.
PROTIP: Be especially cognizant of your domain registration’s renewal date and when the fee is due (sometimes it’s 30 days prior). I’ve seen multiple small businesses lose their domain name after missing the renewal notices. In several of these instances, “vultures” have swooped in to take over the site, benefiting from the high traffic and familiar URL only to convert it into a gaming or X-rated site. At that point it’s lost unless you bay an exorbitant fee (if they will sell it back to you at all).
Not only will you need to completely rebuild your site, but you’ll have also lost all of your Google rankings as the search engines will be unable to find your content because you did not insert any 301 redirects before the rebuild (because you lost access). This will mean a significant drop in your visibility, and ranking. and search result positioning. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Create or Update Your Content and Image Bank
Are you a seasonal business where the winter is your slow season? Or have you simply found that that December offers some extra free time? While the specific time of year is less critical per se, taking time throughout the year to brainstorm new content ideas or repurpose ones that are meaningful to your customers is.
December or even January is a great time to create topic lists and any supportive bullets for each. You’ll be thanking yourself later when you find yourself scrambling for something to share and need some inspiration or an idea. (Come on let’s be honest, we’ve all been there once or twice.)
The same goes for creating and shooting photos and video for an image library. I recommend:
Brand shots of you/your team,
BTS (Behind the Scenes) that could include: making your product, shipping products out or getting ready for the upcoming season ),
B-Roll (video you can place text on top of as simple as working at your computer, doing something in your office, or even walking.
Talking Head videos where you either show your face or not and provide commentary on a subject
Videos or static shots that are in-line with with the content ideas you just developed.
PROTIP: Your goal NOT to go “viral.” Instead, the object is sharing content that provides value for your target audience. For social media, think about ways to add an element of fun or whimsy that could make it even more engaging? Social is supposed to be social after all.
Turn On Email Marketing for the Lead Conversion Win
Emails are a powerful marketing tool where you can both target your message to a specific audience, and drive them to your site or brick and mortar to convert it into a sale. (As I tell my clients, social media should NOT be your primary lead driver. It can sell things but it’s more of a brand awareness building platform.) Turn to direct response and emails for the lead conversion win.
In your small business do you collecting emails or deploying email blasts to your target audience? It’s never too early to collect emails in your marketing mix, even if you don’t have 1. A formal plan to send emails or 2. A lead magnet (a free item you give in exchange for someone’s contact information.) If asking all customers and prospects for their contact information feels daunting, start with your friends and family or your favorite customers that have been fans of you for "years."
To get started with email marketing, start with the basics. Ask for contact information when customers come in to your business or when they or prospects visit your site. (There are pop-ups to prompt them to subscribe.)
PRO TIP: Today’s email rules require that ALL subscribers have opted in to your emails, (i.e.,. that means you can’t simply dump every contact you have in your database into your subscriber list). This action will often result in an abundance of bounces/undelivered emails or unsubscribes which can trigger your email provide to limit who can see your email or how many you can send it to. Remember, get permission BEFORE you send anything.
Your next step is to think what value add you can bring to these customers and prospects. What might be helpful for them to know, that is directly related to your business and what you offer. It can’t be all about selling your services. Think tips, checklists, or information on subject matter that is important to them -- all of which will help build a stronger connection to you and your business. And yes, it could lead to future business too.
Already have subscribers but want more names? Create a lead magnet. What freebie can you offer that connects back to what your business. Is it advanced notice of any sales or what’s coming next season? Or could it be the first few steps to a process that you specialize or a checklist for something their business needs in place. Some of the best lead magnets also help drive business back to you in the long run. The good news? Just because you have a lead magnet in place doesn’t mean that you can’t change it up later.
PROTIP: You do NOT have to have your lead magnet set up to start emailing. A valuable lead magnet can only help you grow your email list faster, but it is not a requirement for email marketing. One great resource for creating lead magnets if you want go it alone is Amy Porterfield. She offers tools and classes throughout the year on lead magnets. In fact I took a couple of her classes to start work on my first lead magnet work. (I’d be happy to brainstorm with you too if you have some ideas or need some.)
Did I get you interested in email marketing strategy and deployment but you know you need help? Depending on the complexity of your needs, Simply K2 Marketing can assist you with your email marketing needs or I can refer you to someone in our network.
Set Clear SMART Goals for 2025
Once you have reviewed all of your metrics and have thought about any changes you want to make to your business and/or offerings, define your business objectives. This is a must have at year-end.
Use SMART criteria for your goal setting:
Specific (simple, sensible and significant).
Measurable (meaningful and motivating).
Achievable (attainable)
Relevant (reasonable, realistic, and results-based).
Time-Bound (time-sensitive, time-based, limited time/cost and timely).
This allows you to write goals that are clear, attainable and meaningful to you and your business.
How do I write a SMART Goals Plan?
Think about what you want to accomplish for the following year. Be as Specific as possible.
Quantify your goals. Is there a time-period or milestone to mark, that helps make this a reality? You want to Measure these goals to stay on track.
Your goal(s) need to be Achievable. Consider the process you'll have to take to make this goal attainable. Do you have the resources? Do you need to reach out for help, planning or take classes to make it a reality?
Why are you setting this goal? Will it improve your revenue or overall business growth? Maybe it will impact your career or personal life? Answer these questions to make it Relevant to you and your business
Set a deadline or Time to meet this goal and stick to it. Staying on track and accomplishing a goal feels amazing and each one takes your business one step further.
Peter Drucker first created the concept of SMART goals in his book, The Practice of Management. If you want to learn more about SMART Goals, you can check out this article: Smart Goals Guide, (2014). Why Goal Setting Is Important or this recent article from Indeed “Smart Goals: An Acronym for Success".
Create a 2025 Brand and Marketing Strategy/Plan
Creating your 2025 marketing plan is the last item on my check list but it's a crucial one. This is the roadmap you’ll follow in the coming year to meet your company’s objectives.
Not only a marketing plan analyze your industry and competitive landscape; it outlines the marketing strategies, tactics and channels you will use to meet your business objectives but also how you’ll build your brand’s awareness. Without having a plan in place, you might as well just throw money out the window. You really need a plan and direction to meet your goals.
PROTIP: I’m a visual person. I like to have a physical, monthly calendar on hand to write down any milestones or dates when an initiative is launching. It gives me a bird’s eye view if you will. I have also worked within larger corporations where the marketing plan was outlined in an Excel spreadsheet so that it was also tied to the budget tab.
Marketing and Brand Plans are just one additional service I provide and can help you with if you are getting stuck with your own.
This wraps up my Top 10 list of things you need to start doing now for small business success in 2025. Print out and keep this checklist on hand. It’s presented in this way to break things up in to smaller more manageable steps. I also know that not everyone’s business is at the same stage. Some of these initiatives are easy, and others, more complex. Take it one step at a time. While ideally you’re aiming to complete most of them if not all, in December, don’t get bogged down by the “shoulds” and do your best at your own pace.
Still stuck or have questions? Reach out, I’m happy to clarify anything I’ve shared above and we can talk about working together. Many of these initiatives are services that Simply K2 Marketing offers to small businesses in the retail and B2C space.
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