Sometimes the year can start relatively quiet for businesses; this is while customers re-fuel their bank accounts after over spending at Christmas, while business clients get their feet back under the desk and get back into work again and while everyone is looking back at last year and how they can improve this year; and this could involve using your services or buying your products!

But in the meantime you can’t just sit around twiddling your thumbs in hope that the expected work will come in; instead you can use this time to the max and prepare as much as possible for the months ahead when business picks up and things are much busier. Below we have listed some of the things you can do to fill up what could be a quiet January so you can have a busy, successful and prepared 2018.

  • Write down a plan for the year ahead; list the months of the year and select a topic or subject for each month; this is then what you will blog about, post on social media about and put in your newsletters; you could also create a new landing page for this topic or have a one month special offer that relates to this topic or subject. Once you have the plan for the year ahead created with the chosen topics then list what you will talk about, create all the content in advance and schedule those social media posts – even if you only do it for one or three months in advance it will it make each month easier to manage your business as work picks up.
  • Start creating weekly or monthly blog posts that can be used at any time (not season or month specific) so when you don’t have time to create a brand new blog post you will have some saved that you can use. This will ensure that you can continue posting on your website and regularly updating your website; no matter how manic it may feel in the office.
  • Look at special industry days, company birthdays or national holidays and schedule these into your social media so it means that you don’t miss out on important dates; even when work gets really busy again. It also means you have social media posts scheduled in, which will make the monthly social media management of your social media accounts that little but easier when you pop on to schedule and up date.
  • Contact existing clients and previous clients for reviews and testimonials. This is often a job that sits on the to-do list but never quite gets done and things are too busy but now work is quiet it’s the perfect time to get this admin job done – and it will remind clients why they use you and why you are so great, as well as why they should continue using you. The beginning of the year is a great time to be reminded of this.

It’s also worth checking out our blog post of the 2018 social media refresh too as this has some other great things you can do to prepare for the year ahead.