Take advantage of a slower show schedule to plan your marketing strategy for the year.
By Jennifer Paulson
Even setting a basic framework for what you plan to do can help keep you on track all year long. Here are some specific ideas to get you going at the beginning of the year.
Year Wrap-Up. Even if you did a play-by-play of every show you and your customers attended all year, put together a highlight reel of the biggest accomplishments, goals reached, new horses acquired, foals born, and other high points of the year. You can do this on Instagram and Facebook Stories, or put together a comprehensive blog post for your website that you share on social media. Keeping it positive to increase engagement.
Next Year’s Vision. What’s the best way to keep you on track? Sharing your vision so you’re accountable for your commitments. Develop a yearly Vision Statement that you share with your employees, customers, and even your social media and web audience. You could create a video outlining what you foresee for the year, write a blog post to share on social media, or keep it simple with a few memes you create with inspirational quotes that support your vision.
Set Goals. If your customers are up for it, work with them to put together a list of goals that they can share with their friends and family. Showing this level of collaboration with your current customers can draw the interest of potential customers looking for that kind of program.
Share Winter Woes. On your Instagram and Facebook Stories, share the woes of horsekeeping during winter. Keep it light and funny, and ask for interaction from your audience about their biggest pain of having horses in winter. This helps with community-building and can grow your audience. Try using hashtags such as #WinterHorseCare, #WinterHorseProblems, and #WinterHorsekeeping.
Next Year’s Show Calendar. If you keep your website up-to-date, consider sharing your planned show calendar. It’s a good service to your customers and can also help people find you when they want to meet you, talk to you about horses you have for sale, and get advice from you.
