Where has 2025 disappeared to? With just a few weeks of the year left to go, Christmas and New Year will be upon us before we know it. As always in December, I’m taking some time to review and reflect on how the last 12 months have gone for my business, and to start planning for next year.
Like so many business owners, I have to admit that 2025 has been tough. Seriously tough! In fact, apart from my first two years of trading when I was finding my feet, it’s been the hardest year I’ve experienced in 14 years. Despite this, however, it’s not all been doom and gloom. I’ve had some fantastic highlights, including selling out my last three in-person social media workshops. This has given me the confidence to schedule in another four for Quarter One of 2026 – you can check out the details and book your place here.
Another positive for 2025 is that people seem to be becoming more open to being supported, whether that’s by outsourcing some tasks so they can focus on their businesses, or by investing in CPD and upskilling themselves and / or their teams. I’m hoping this is a trend that’ll continue in 2026, which is why I’d encourage you all to take advantage of the downtime over Christmas and New Year to think about what went well and less well this year, and plan what you want to do with your business in 2026.
One thing that I’m especially keen to emphasise here is the importance of an integrated, multichannel marketing strategy. Just picking one channel to focus on – whether that’s social media or something else – just won’t cut the mustard. After all, there’s no such thing as a silver bullet, and a ‘one size fits all’ approach to marketing is never going to work.
My advice is to think of marketing like going on safari and focus on the Big Four. Don’t worry, I’m not going mad; I don’t mean lions, leopards, rhinos and elephants here! I’m talking about what, in my eyes and according to my experience, are the four indispensable elements of a successful marketing strategy. These are:
- A fully optimised website which is kept up to date and features regular blog posts.
- A robust email marketing strategy, including a plan to keep growing your contact list.
- Regular online and in-person networking activities, and keeping the lines of communication open in between meetings through social media and booking 121s.
- Last but not least, a consistent and credible social media presence on all platforms used by your target audience.
Of course, you’re free to add other marketing channels into the mix to suit your business needs and audience, whether that’s PR and media activities, advertising or whatever else works for you. But I can’t emphasise enough that the Big Four elements outlined above should form the cornerstones of your approach to marketing in 2026.
Next year will undoubtedly be another tough one for many of us, and boosting our visibility and making potential clients aware of what we do and how we support people will be critical. Depending on how things have panned out for you in 2025, this could involve reframing your entire approach to marketing your business, rebranding, or pivoting to offer new or additional services. One thing’s for sure: if it’s not working now, it probably won’t work in 2026!
A Christmas gift for my followers
To make sure we end the year on a high note, I’m running a Christmas competition on Facebook and Instagram until 27 December. The prize is one hour of 121 training to be delivered in January, so we can address and work through your individual social media challenges and put a plan in place to get your online presence off to a flying start in 2026.
To find out all the details, please take a look at the posts on my Facebook and Instagram pages. And if you don’t already follow me, please do so as otherwise you won’t be able to enter the competition! It’s my way of saying ‘thank you’ for following me and, for those of you who’ve been on board for a while, for liking, commenting on and sharing my posts.
On that note, I’ll sign off my blog for 2026 and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. Have a fantastic and relaxing time – and don’t forget to review, reflect and plan for 2026 in between all the celebrating!