Gaining Muscle for the New Year!

As the new year is fast approaching many of us are already thinking of our new years resolution; but have you thought of your new years resolution for your business?

A big new years resolution for majority of the population is to lose weight and get into shape. How can you lose weight in your business and gain muscle? Have you ever thought that maybe the muscle you need to work on and tone is the way you are marketing yourself? Marketing is an important key to any business. It introduces yourself to new customers and reminds current and past customers that you are here for them.

Now, the first thing to getting into shape isn't to go wild and spend money on every marketing vehicle there is out there; but to find the ones that work for your business and track and measure how much of a success it was. You don't want to be running a marathon and let all of your energy out in the first mile. Remember the saying, "slow and steady wins the race."

It is good to be out in the public eye, volunteering, sending direct mail pieces etc. but you don't want to do it all in the same week. You need to leave your customers wanting more.

A great thing to do before the new year starts is to sit down and come up with a marketing plan. This plan maps out your marketing for the next six months or year. Not only will it help you with your budget but you can plan when you are advertising specials and events. Maybe you will have a campaign that starts January 1st with a catchy headline that grabs the attention of your customer and gets them wanting to know more and see more. Then you send out a piece on February 1st adding on to the piece that they received in January. Keeping your marketing fresh and interesting will have your customers coming back for more.

At MAJIRS! we enjoy coming up with clever ways to keep your customers guessing. Let us help you with your marketing for the upcoming year and your business forms and materials.

We hope that you have a prosperous new year!

Happy Holidays!

Perry Como sang it best in 1958 with "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." It really is starting to look that way at MAJIRS! The Christmas trees are up in the office with the lights twinkling and shining on the gold and red balls. While we are staying warm inside; the outside temperature is getting cold and I even saw it trying to snow today.

It's fun to think about Christmas and all that goes along with it. The smell of gingerbread cookies baking in the oven, finding that perfect tree and placing your ornaments on it and giving it that extra touch of tinsel. The radio stations are playing non stop Christmas music and as much as we grumble about snow, it just wouldn't be Christmas with out it . It also is a time that you get to spend with your family and friends and carry out the traditions that you might have had growing up as a child or ones that you have just put into place in the last few years.

For me, the Christmas season would start when my mom, 2 sisters (Christine and Pamela) would start to decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving. We would help put mom's village up and hang the stockings downstairs by the wood stove. Then we would all meet upstairs to set up the tree. While us girls were pulling out our ornaments, mom would come out of her room with a new ornament for each one of us with our name and the year on it. This is still a tradition I carry on now that I am married and on my own. On Christmas eve we would spend the whole day together and have a great big meal with ham and potatoes and gravy and an excellent homemade apple pie. It was like Thanksgiving all over where you eat and eat until you just can't eat anymore. After my 2 sisters and I would help mom clean off the table and do dishes we would all get into the family vehicle and go look at Christmas lights around town. Somehow, Santa always new when we were gone because when we came home there were gifts under the tree. We must have been very good!

As I have gotten older, I have learned that Christmas is for the little kids (the gifts) and that for us adults, it is really about spending time with your friends and family and making memories. It is hard to believe that in a few weeks Christmas will be here. I hope that you all take the time to enjoy the holiday season and make some great memories!

From everyone here at MAJIRS! we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and great New Year! Happy 2010