4 Ways to Spring-Clean Your Business . . . Beyond Decluttering Your Office!
Spring is in the air . . .
Here in New England, spring means longer and mostly brighter days. It means warmth and green grass, buds on trees, and flowers beginning to bloom. It’s as if we—humans, animals, plants, the earth!—are all coming out of hibernation, and the newness of it all . . . well, it makes me want to clean and refresh pretty much every aspect of my life. Yes, it’s the perfect time to declutter your office, but what I really want to share with you are 4 ways to spring-clean your business!
01 | TIDY YOUR WEBSITE
While it’s always wise to stay on top of your website content, take the time now to carefully read through it.
Remove outdated/expired information like that workshop you gave or that class you already taught.
Update stats. This is a great opportunity to share your accomplishments. At Copper Bottom, we sent 65 planners to print in 2024! I believe that is something to toot my horn about, so we proudly display that stat on our home page.
Highlight new press features. This is another way to share the success of your business with potential new clients.
Update your portfolio and/or client list to attract NEW clients and further grow your business.
Add new retailers so that visitors to your site know where they can buy your products.
Clean up your shop, if you have one. Are there products that aren’t doing well? Maybe it’s time to have a sale to get rid of slow-moving inventory.
02 | ORGANIZE YOUR INBOX
The messages in your inbox can grow like weeds, and be just as unwanted and overwhelming!
Purge junk emails and unsubscribe from anything unnecessary. You can always re-subscribe later if you change your mind.
Create folders and subfolders to organize archived emails. I did a deep-dive into my Gmail inbox years ago. I purged and then created folders and subfolders to keep all of my messages organized and accessible. It was life changing! I have an Admin folder, for example, and subfolders for bookkeeping, trademarks, and taxes. I have Marketing and Contracting folders, and a Client folder with subfolders for individual clients and those subfolders have subfolders for each quarter, etc. You get the picture?!
Create rules (in Gmail) to organize incoming messages. Thanks to a rule that I created, all emails I receive from Quickbooks—that I don't need to read right away but want filed and on hand—go directly into a Quickbooks folder.
Explore the organizational tools that your email service has to offer. You can thank me later!
03 | CLEAN YOUR NEWSLETTER LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS
Open. Click. Reply.
Those are the actions your subscribers should be taking, and if they aren’t, why are they still on your list? Bigger is not always better. Clean your list.
And while your list will decrease, your open and click rates will increase. You’ll have fewer emails ending up in spam folders, and since some email marketing platforms charge per subscriber, you might end up saving money! Win, win!
PRO TIPS:
Don’t forget to find out what tools your email marketing platform may provide to help you clean your list of subscribers.
Before removing them, consider reaching out to those cold subscribers once last time. Hey there! Are you still interested in my content? I notice that you haven’t been opening my emails. Click here if you want to remain on my list. If I don’t hear from you within the next 24 hours, I’ll go ahead and take you off my email list. You could also go with something short and punchy. Last chance to let me know that you’re still interested in my content! Click here to stay on the list!
Choosing double opt-in will help weed out sign-ups to your newsletter as a result of a spam attack.
04 | FRESHEN UP YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY
It’s a new quarter and a new season, and the perfect time to freshen up your marketing strategy! And don’t forget that this includes coming up with some new content. If you haven’t already introduced a new product in your lineup, or teased something that is coming up, the time is now, my friends!
Try new social media trends. Review your analytics on the social media platforms you belong to. What is working and what isn’t? It may be time to switch things up—a reel instead of a story, or even trying out a new platform. Find out what’s trending on social media, and jump on board!
Redesign your email newsletter. Maybe your newsletter could use an overhaul, but if that feels too daunting this season, how about a mini-makeover? Switch fonts, add some color, move things around . . . a little can go a long way. And allow yourself to have some fun shaking things up!
Refresh stale offers. I think this one is self-explanatory!
When I’m in marketing strategy mode, I like plotting my moves on a big calendar, writing everything out on sticky notes and washi tape since they can easily be moved around. You know you’re itching to do the same! Grab your FREE planning calendar by clicking here.
BONUS TIP!
With the changing of the seasons often comes a change in life and work schedules, especially if you have kids. Take a look at everything you need to juggle. Now think about what your ideal schedule would look like—one that accommodates your life (first) and work (second). One that includes self-care. And looking ahead, what if you could enjoy Summer Fridays?! Need some expert tips on how to make this happen? Grab a notebook or your planner and watch this!
Feeling ready to move production overseas?
I created a streamlined checklist so you know exactly what you need to do before making the leap to overseas manufacturing . . . and it’s available now at the link below.
