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It might seem counterintuitive, but the end of the year is not the time to relax your marketing efforts. The coming weeks are exactly the moment to begin developing the strategy that will put your business in the best position to take advantage of the 2015 property market.

The best marketing strategies are planned in advance, so here’s what you need to focus on between now and December 25.

Finalise 2014

The year is not quite done, and there are still a handful of crucial communication pieces to send out.

The first are Christmas cards. Ideally, these should already be well under way and ready to mail out by late November, before the postal system gets really busy. If you’re yet to get these off the ground, there is still time … just. But remember that the later you send them out, the more chance they have of getting lost in all the Christmas noise. Utilise eye-catching, clever design to seize attention. 

2015 calendars should also be distributed soon. Many customers will simply use the first calendar that lands in their letterbox, so don’t leave it too late. A creative and appealing design is more likely to find a permanent home on the fridge.

A final ‘thank you’ message, whether a snappy drop card or a personalised letter, closes out the year on a positive note.

Plan for 2015

Use a marketing planner to plan your major marketing campaigns for the next 12 months. Locking down at least the first three months of 2015 is crucial; planning ahead means you’re ready to reach out to the market at the optimal times and have the space to create engaging, effective campaigns. 

Do an industry forecast and account for the state of the market, the economy, recent real estate trends and what your competitors are doing so you can get a clear idea of how you need to position your business. Then decide on your business goals and the marketing strategies and collateral that will help you achieve them

Ideally, your first marketing push of the year should be ready to go before the office closes over Christmas and New Years. Those first few weeks of January, when your competition is scrambling to organise a drop card or newsletter, is a great time for brand building. Take advantage of your competitors absence. 

Learn from the past

Don’t go into 2015 blind. Sit down and go back through all of your marketing efforts over the past 12 months. What worked and what didn’t? Use whatever data you can to track the effectiveness of your campaigns, whether that is word of mouth, a sudden spike in phone enquires, or a surge of traffic to your website.

This feedback will give you a clearer idea of your strengths and weaknesses, so you can plan more effective campaigns. Be ruthless; if certain messages just aren’t getting a response, it might be time to try something new. 

How are you putting your business in the best position for 2015?