Small business Archives

Taking Time Off: A Business Owner’s Guide to Switching Off (Almost)

Every business owner I speak to says the same thing: “I need a holiday.” And yet, when it comes to actually booking one, taking time off, and being fully present somewhere other than their inbox, most of them find a reason not to.

I’ve been running Get Ahead for over a decade. I’ve had to learn, sometimes the hard way, that taking time off isn’t a luxury. It’s a business decision. The planning, prioritisation and delegation that makes a holiday possible are the same disciplines that make a business scalable.

Here’s what I’ve learned, and what I now share with every business owner I work with.

Why do so many business owners struggle to take time off?

Because the business feels like it needs them. And often, it genuinely does, but usually because systems, handovers and trusted support haven’t been put in place yet. The business isn’t the problem. The infrastructure around it is.

When I talk to owners who haven’t had a proper break in years, it’s rarely because they don’t want one. It’s because the idea of stepping away feels riskier than staying put. That’s the thing we need to solve.

What does good preparation actually look like?

It starts well before you pack. I’d suggest a minimum of four weeks’ lead time if you’re going away for more than a few days. The core areas to address are:

Priorities: what absolutely must happen while you’re away, and what can wait
Delegation: who is responsible for what, with clear authority to make decisions, not just to escalate
Systems: are your CRM, accounts, files and shared drives in order? Can someone else navigate them without you?
Communication: who is your point of contact for clients, and what’s the protocol if something genuinely urgent arises?

The key word in that third point is delegation with authority. Handing tasks to someone and then remaining the bottleneck for every decision isn’t delegation. It’s just distributed stress. Trust the people you’ve briefed, and let them get on with it.

What about HR considerations when you’re the one stepping away?

This is something business owners with small teams often overlook. Before you go:

Make sure any team members or contractors have a clear point of contact in your absence, with the authority to make day-to-day decisions
Set clear expectations about what warrants contacting you and what doesn’t
Check that any outstanding HR matters (appraisals, onboarding, contracts) are resolved or safely deferred
If you use a virtual team, ensure they’re fully briefed and have everything they need before you leave

The businesses that run smoothly in an owner’s absence are the ones where the team has been trusted, briefed properly, and given room to act. Not the ones where the owner is fielding WhatsApps on the beach.

How do you handle the personal side of being away? The dog, the cat, the house?

This is where our Lifestyle Manager service comes in, and honestly, it’s one of the things I’m most proud of offering. The mental load of a holiday isn’t just professional. It’s personal.

Sorting pet care, ensuring the house is looked after, managing deliveries, handling the things that pile up at home while you’re away: these are all things that can be handed off. A good Lifestyle Manager takes the whole list, not just the work side of it.

When the personal logistics are sorted, you actually get to have a holiday. Not just a change of location where you’re still mentally juggling everything. And knowing that Sydney (aka The Prince) is in good hands and enjoying himself means that I can too!

Do you ever stay contactable while you’re away?

Yes, deliberately and on my own terms. I make sure someone knows how to reach me if something genuinely needs a call. In practice, in all the years I’ve been running Get Ahead, that call has never come.

But knowing it’s possible if needed means I can actually relax. It’s a safety net I’ve chosen to have, not a leash. There’s a difference. And building the right team around you is what makes that distinction possible.

What’s your pre-holiday checklist?

Here’s what I work through before I go anywhere:

Goals reviewed: what needs to be done before I leave, and what can genuinely wait
Delegation confirmed: named people, clear responsibilities, authority granted
Systems in order: shared drives, CRM, accounts, inboxes all accessible and up to date
Social media scheduled: posts queued for the duration, evergreen content repurposed where needed
Client communications sent: anyone who needs to know I’m away has been told, with a named contact
Virtual support briefed: telephone answering, email management, any ongoing tasks handed over with a proper brief
Personal logistics sorted: pet care, house, anything domestic that would otherwise be sitting in the back of my mind

What’s the business case for actually taking the holiday?

You come back better. Clearer thinking, more energy, more perspective on the things that actually matter. Every owner I know who has properly stepped away and come back says the same thing: they could see the business more clearly from the outside than they ever could from inside it.

The planning that goes into a good handover also tends to reveal gaps in your systems that you’d been papering over. It’s an audit you didn’t know you needed.

And frankly, if your business can’t function without you for a week or two, that’s the most important signal you could have about what to fix next.

How can Get Ahead help?

Whether you need telephone answering and email management while you’re away, a virtual assistant to keep things ticking over, or a Lifestyle Manager to handle the personal side of life, we’ve been helping business owners take proper breaks for over a decade.

Talk to your local Regional Director about what cover would look like for your business. You might be closer to a real holiday than you think.

www.getaheadva.com or call 0330 223 7580

Rebecca Newenham is the founder of Get Ahead, an award-winning virtual assistant and outsourcing franchise she launched in 2010 following a successful career in corporate retail buying. With a team of over 90 virtual assistants and franchisees, Get Ahead provides flexible marketing and business support to SMEs across the UK. A passionate advocate for flexible working, Rebecca is also a Franchise Consultant at Ashtons, helping founders scale with clarity and confidence. She hosts LinkedIn Local Guildford and is a Baby Naming Celebrant, proof that a purposeful career doesn’t have to fit a single mould. At the heart of everything Rebecca does is people: connecting them, supporting them and helping them build businesses that genuinely work for their lives.

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Is Your Business Actually Showing Up on Social Media?

I’ve been watching social media change for a long time. And lately, something has shifted in a way that feels different from previous cycles of platform hype and algorithm updates.

The feeds are full. But the people, increasingly, are elsewhere.

What I mean by that is this: the volume of content being published across every major social platform is growing. But the proportion of that content genuinely written by a human being, in their own voice, about something they actually think, is shrinking. AI-generated posts. AI-rewritten updates. AI agents responding to comments on behalf of people who aren’t really there. The mechanics of presence without the substance of it.

For SME owners trying to work out where to invest their limited time and energy, this creates a real problem. The conventional answer (be on every platform, post consistently, follow the algorithm) has never been less useful. Because the question now isn’t just which platforms work. It’s which platforms still reward the kind of presence that actually builds a business.

That’s why I wanted to share a series that one of our Regional Directors has just completed. Because it asks exactly the right question, and answers it with a level of honesty and commercial experience that I think is genuinely rare.

Seven platforms. One question. No waffle.

Vicky McKenna is Get Ahead’s Regional Director for Oxfordshire. Before joining us, she spent years as a Buying Director for major UK retailers and ran her own social media agency, with a specialism in Pinterest for business. She has used these platforms commercially. She knows what drives real results, and she knows when something simply isn’t worth a business owner’s time.

Over seven posts, Vicky worked through every major social platform and asked the same question each time: is it actually worth it for your business? Not a strategy guide. Not a list of tips. A straight answer, backed by real experience.

Here’s what she found.

Platform	Worth it?	The verdict in brief
Meta – Facebook (& Instagram)	For the right business, yes	If your best customers are over 35, don’t write it off. Forget the Page and focus on Groups
Pinterest	Yes – for the right sector	A visual search engine with months-long content longevity. Misunderstood by most, underused by almost everyone
TikTok	Yes – if you’ll really show up	The flattest playing field in social media. But it asks more of you than any other platform
X / Threads	Probably not – with exceptions	X has changed. Threads is still finding its feet. Most SMEs have better places to be
Reddit	Possibly – with patience	Rewards genuine expertise like nowhere else. But there’s one rule you cannot break
LinkedIn	Yes – unambiguously	The one platform where the answer needs no caveats. Show up consistently and genuinely
AI & Social Media	Help and hindrance	A tool for consistency, not a replacement for voice. The 20% that still sounds human is the 20% that gets read
The pattern	The question behind all of it	Where are your customers, and what does it genuinely cost you to show up there? Apply that to every platform, including whatever comes next

Why this matters, and what it has to do with Get Ahead

The thread running through every one of Vicky’s verdicts is something I believe deeply about how businesses grow.

The platforms that reward you are the ones where you actually show up. Not a scheduled post, a generated caption or an agent monitoring your notifications while you’re somewhere else. You, with a genuine point of view, present and consistent, over time.

The platforms haven’t changed. The humans have left. And for growing businesses, that’s both the problem and the opportunity.

That’s a Vicky line, and it’s a sharp one. But it also captures something that sits at the heart of why we built Get Ahead the way we did.

Every business owner I’ve ever spoken to knows, somewhere, that they should be showing up more consistently: on LinkedIn, in their community, in the conversations their clients are already having. What stops them isn’t lack of understanding. It’s lack of time, lack of bandwidth, and the very real mental load that comes with running a growing business while trying to be visible in all the right places.

That’s the gap our Regional Directors and Virtual Experts fill. Not to replace the business owner’s voice, but to make it possible for them to show up consistently, even when life and work are demanding everything they have.

Vicky’s series is a brilliant example of what that looks like in practice. Seven posts, honest verdicts, real experience, and a body of content that will keep working for the business owners who read it long after it was written. Exactly the kind of presence, in other words, that she’s been advocating for all along.

Read the full series, or go straight to whichever platform has been on your mind.

Social Media – Is It Worth It?

Vicky McKenna’s seven-part series, Is It Worth It?, is an honest, platform-by-platform verdict on social media for growing businesses.

Vicky McKenna is Get Ahead’s Regional Director for Oxfordshire. If you’d like to talk to her about your business’s social media presence, or anything else, you can find her here.

You Don’t Need More Pressure – You Need the Right People in Your Corner

If there’s one thing I see consistently in growing businesses, it’s this: the people running them are carrying more than anyone realises.

On the outside, things look steady. Momentum is building, opportunities are increasing, and from a distance the picture looks encouraging.

But behind the scenes, decisions are stacking up, and with growth comes weight.

The Quiet Weight of Scaling

Enhancing your offering, creating a new revenue stream, stepping into a new market, hiring for the first time, delegating something you’ve always kept close – none of those are small moves. And even when they’re exciting, they can feel slightly exposing in a way that’s hard to articulate.

Because growth isn’t just operational. It’s personal. You’re putting something new out into the world, trusting someone else with your reputation, shifting from doing to leading. That transition can feel heavier than most people admit, and it rarely comes with a manual.

Pressure Isn’t the Same as Progress

At busy times, the instinct is almost always to push harder. Work longer, take on more, keep control, just get through it. It’s a deeply familiar response, and for a while it can feel like the right one.

But pressure doesn’t always create progress. What it more often creates is hesitation, indecision, and – perhaps most insidiously – burnout disguised as productivity. In my experience, growth rarely accelerates because someone applies more pressure to themselves. It accelerates when the right support is introduced at the right time.

The Power of Having Someone Beside You

Earlier in this series I explored why buying decisions are still fundamentally human, why community builds the trust that makes those decisions easier, and why bespoke fit matters more than a list of features. This final piece is where all of that comes together.

Because when growth feels heavy, what business owners really need isn’t another system or another process. It’s someone beside them; someone who can ask the right questions, offer an outside perspective, sense-check decisions before they’re made, and translate a feeling of overwhelm into a clear and manageable next step. That’s not soft support. That’s one of the most strategic investments a growing business can make, because confident leaders make stronger decisions, and supported leaders move faster.

What My Role Actually Looks Like

As a Regional Director at Get Ahead, I don’t see my role as simply matching skills to tasks, though that’s part of it. I see it as standing alongside a business owner as they navigate change, being a consistent presence through the moments that feel uncertain.

Sometimes that means helping to identify where the real pressure is coming from, which isn’t always where it appears to be. Sometimes it means suggesting a different approach, or simply reframing a decision that’s been made more complicated than it needs to be. And sometimes it means reminding someone that bringing in support isn’t a sign of weakness but a mark of leadership. Knowing when to ask for help, and being willing to do so, is one of the most mature things a business owner can do.

AI, Automation and the Human Gap

We’re operating in an increasingly automated world, and the pace of that change shows no sign of slowing. Systems are smarter, processes are faster, and information is more instantly accessible than ever before. All of that is genuinely useful, and at Get Ahead we embrace it where it adds real value.

But none of it replaces encouragement. None of it replaces the kind of considered judgement that comes from experience. And none of it can sit across the table from someone and say, with conviction, “you’re on the right track, let’s simplify this.” Technology enhances businesses, but people steady them. And steady businesses, in my observation, grow more sustainably than those running purely on pressure.

You Don’t Have to Do It Alone

There’s a quiet narrative in business that says you should have it all figured out, that you should always know exactly what to do next, and that asking for help means you’re somehow behind. It’s a narrative that does a lot of damage, often silently.

The strongest businesses I see are invariably the ones where leaders are willing to build the right support around them, have honest conversations about capacity before things reach breaking point, and bring in expertise while there’s still space to use it well rather than waiting until everything feels critical. That’s not weakness. That’s maturity, and it makes an enormous practical difference to how a business grows.

In Your Corner

This series has been about the human side of growth, because while the tools, platforms and systems will continue to evolve, the fundamentals don’t change. Trust drives decisions. Fit drives performance. Support drives confidence. And confidence, more than almost anything else, drives sustainable growth.

If you’re building something, evolving something, or simply feeling the weight of doing too much alone, then you don’t need more pressure. You need the right people in your corner. And sometimes, that starts with a single conversation.

I’m always happy to talk through where your business is right now and what the right next step might look like. No hard sell Just clarity, perspective, and support where it counts.

kristy@getaheadva.com or book in a chat – Calendly – Kristy Roff

About the Author

Kristy Roff is a Get Ahead Regional Director with over 20 years’ experience in commercial, marketing and client relationship roles. Her career has spanned radio broadcasting – including senior positions at Global Radio – and a decade in B2B technology consultancy, giving her a broad understanding of the pressures that growing businesses face. Kristy works closely with SME leadership teams to identify the right support and build flexible solutions that drive sustainable growth. Rather than simply placing Virtual Experts, she takes time to understand each client’s business, challenges and ambitions before carefully matching them with the right specialists from the Get Ahead network. Her areas of expertise include marketing strategy, operational capacity, client relationship management and business support.

Learn more about Kristy here

In Your Corner – The Human Side of Growth

A four-part series exploring why human connection, community, and the right support still define how growing businesses succeed – even in an age of automation.

Your onboarding and offboarding processes shape how employees feel about your business, from day one to their last (and beyond).

Here’s why they matter.

1. A great onboarding experience boosts productivity

A great induction process, clear expectations, access to tools, and a warm welcome mean:

Faster ramp-up time

Fewer mistakes

Higher confidence

2. Poor onboarding creates risk

Common issues include:

No contracts signed

Missing documents

No policy awareness

Unclear expectations

Lack of system access

These create confusion and, at times, even legal exposure.

3. A structured leaver process protects your business

Without a process, and an exit checklist, things get missed:

Equipment return

Access removal

Final payments

References

Knowledge transfer

A leaver leaving with system access is a serious risk.

4. Small businesses benefit the most

With small teams, the experience of one person has a huge impact on culture.

That’s why the HR Confidence package includes a full review of your onboarding and leaver processes. And why HR Assist can manage your monthly admin for you.

When you hear “employee handbook” you might imagine a heavy folder collecting dust on a shelf. But for small and growing businesses, your handbook doesn’t need to be complicated, in fact, it’s better if it isn’t.

A simple, clear handbook gives your employees clarity and protects your business. Here’s why getting it right matters more than making it long.

1. A Simple Handbook Reduces Confusion

Your employees should be able to understand quickly:

How holidays work

What to do when they’re sick

How their data is handled

What standards of behaviour are expected

If it requires an HR degree to interpret, it’s not helpful.

2. It Makes Managing People Easier

When small businesses don’t have policies, every decision becomes a “one-off”. That leads to inconsistency, and inconsistency leads to complaints.

A clear handbook ensures:

Everyone knows the rules

You have something to refer to when issues arise

You can handle problems fairly and confidently

3. It Protects You Legally

Some policies are required by law, including:

Disciplinary and grievance

Health and safety

Data protection/privacy

Even small teams need these written down. If something goes wrong, having them in place can significantly reduce risk.

4. It Helps New Starters Settle in Faster

A new employee wants to feel confident and informed. Your handbook gives them all the basics in one place, making their first week smoother and less stressful.

5. It Doesn’t Need to Be Long

Your handbook should be:

Clear

Concise

Easy to navigate

Focused on the essentials

That’s why the HR Foundations package includes a simple, practical handbook designed for small businesses, with all the core policies you need, and none of the fluff.

Need help creating or updating yours?

We keep things human, friendly and flexible, exactly how HR support should feel.

➡ Explore HR Foundations

➡ Book a free consultation

As your business grows, your HR documentation should grow with it. Out-of-date contracts, policies and processes create risk and can lead to issues when you least expect them.

Here’s what every SME should review once a year.

1. Employment Contracts

Ask yourself:

Do they reflect current salary and benefits?

Have working hours or hybrid arrangements changed?

Are they still legally compliant?

Contracts become outdated faster than you think, especially as laws and practices evolve. Contract updates are inevitable and essential.

2. Policies and Handbook

Check that your policies match how your business actually operates. Common updates include:

Hybrid/remote working

Sickness and absence

Equality and diversity

Data protection

If your handbook still reflects a pre-growth business, it’s time for a refresh.

3. Onboarding and Leaver Processes

Growing businesses often realise:

New starters aren’t getting consistent inductions

Leavers’ documents or access aren’t handled correctly

Holiday and absence records fall behind

A quick review can prevent mistakes and improve employee experience.

4. Your HR Tracker

If you’re using spreadsheets for holidays, absences or training, make sure they’re:

Up to date

Legible

Used consistently

A simple HR tracker (included in HR Confidence) reduces admin headaches.

Want a complete HR documentation audit?

Our HR Confidence package includes:

Full HR documentation review

Updated contracts & policies

Onboarding and leaver process review

HR tracker template

1-hour follow-up consultation

Perfect for SMEs with 5–20 employees who want reassurance and readiness for growth.

➡ Explore HR Confidence

Hiring your first employee is an exciting milestone. It means your business is growing and you’re ready for extra support. But it also means stepping into the world of HR, and that can feel overwhelming if you’re not sure what’s legally required.

The good news? You don’t need a huge HR department to stay compliant. But you do need a few key documents in place before your new team member starts.

Here are the five essential HR documents every small or new employer must have.

1. A Legally Compliant Employment Contract

Every employee must receive a written statement of terms and conditions on or before their first day. This is usually provided as an employment contract.

A clear, up-to-date contract protects both you and your employee. It sets expectations, reduces misunderstandings, and ensures you’re meeting legal obligations around pay, hours, leave, benefits, and notice.

Many small businesses rely on outdated templates or copy something from the internet, but an inaccurate contract is one of the most common HR risks. A tailored contract gives you peace of mind from day one.

2. An Offer Letter

The offer letter confirms the basics: job title, salary, working hours, and start date. It also sets a positive, professional tone and helps your new employee feel confident joining your business.

It’s also useful if someone needs written proof of employment before their contract is finalised.

3. Core HR Policies

You don’t need a full suite of policies at this stage, but you do need the basics in writing, including:

Disciplinary and grievance

Equality and diversity

Health & safety

Data protection/privacy notice

These are required by law and form the backbone of your HR compliance. They are also a key part of your employee handbook…

4. A Basic Employee Handbook

A handbook doesn’t need to be long or complicated; it simply outlines how things work in your business. The essentials usually include:

Sickness and absence

Holiday and time off

Data protection

Health & safety

Code of conduct

Basic well-being or workplace expectations

This gives employees clarity and ensures consistency. It also helps you, as the employer, handle issues fairly and legally.

Think of it as the “how we do things around here” guide.

5. A New Starter Checklist

When you’re new to hiring, it’s easy to forget the small but essential steps. A checklist helps you stay organised and cover things like:

Right-to-work checks

Payroll setup

Collecting emergency contacts

Sharing company policies

IT or system access

It also gives your new employee a smooth, structured onboarding experience, which boosts confidence from day one.

Need Help Getting These in Place?

Many new employers don’t realise these documents are required or worry about getting them wrong. That’s where our HR Foundations package can help.

It includes:

A 30-minute HR consultation

Customised employment contract template

Offer letter template

Basic employee handbook, including a set of core HR policies

New starter checklist

Everything you need to hire confidently, professionally, and legally, without the stress.

➡ Find out more about HR Foundations

➡ Book a free HR consultation

We all feel energised as the days get longer and the sun comes out. And if you’ve ever thought about working for yourself, why not use this positivity to make it happen?

In this blog, we look at the benefits of working for yourself and what support there is to help you.

Why should you choose working for yourself?

There are loads of great reasons to set up on your own. We meet a lot of business owners and we’ve learned that each one has a specific reason that made them decide to run their own business.

Flexibility

Many business owners found that being tied down to a nine-to-five schedule just didn’t work for them. Some wanted to enjoy more time with their children (they grow up so quick!), while others had caring responsibilities for family members. Others wanted to have time for hobbies and interests – there’s more to life than work!

Values

Another big group of self-employed people are those who have a clear set of values that they didn’t feel the corporate world embodied. They love their sector, but they recognised independence would offer them more of a chance to share their skills in the way that felt right to them.

Challenge

Other people simply love a challenge! Working for yourself is full of challenges, but the knowledge that you are behind every one of your business’s achievements is exceptionally satisfying. If you’re stuck in a rut and not taking your best self to work every day, it could be time to do it differently.

Working for yourself – what do you need?

Budget

Start by working out your budget. Obviously, you will need to consider business costs – remember that even home-based businesses will need a website and hosting. You also need to work out personal expenses. Look at your monthly outgoings like mortgage repayments and car finance, and work out what you need to earn to cover them.

Business plan

Your business plan maps out what you offer and how you will grow. It’s an important document – you will need to show it to the bank if you apply for a business loan. And if you want to connect with investors or form a partnership, the other people involved will want to see it.

Registration for self-assessment

You need to register for self-assessment so you pay the right tax on the amount your business has earned.

Record keeping

Businesses need to record their income and outgoings, as well as customer and client information, and details of products and services. You might think you’ll remember but trust us, you won’t (sorry!). You will also need to provide financial records to HMRC so these need to be accurate and accessible.

Support for new businesses

Fortunately, there is loads of support out there. From online guides to writing business plans to plain English guides to registering your business, any new entrepreneur can find what they need to get started on the UK government website.

Fill your skills gaps with outsourcing

If you love the idea of starting your own business but you’re worried about financial records, tax and invoicing, you’re not alone. In our experience of supporting business owners, we’ve seen that finance is the number one area of difficulty. Not feeling confident about finance means maths (yikes!), getting to grips with invoicing software, praying you’re doing your tax return properly and having to admit you’re not actually Alan Sugar.

But it doesn’t have to be scary. The good news is that you can outsource almost anything you don’t know how to do yourself. Finance, tax and admin are some of Get Ahead’s most popular services, with our admin assistants, accountants and bookkeepers all on hand to provide what you need quickly and accurately.

Get Ahead also supports businesses with writing business plans, as well as creating websites and managing social media – all great ways to get your business out there.

If it’s time you started working for yourself, remember that Get Ahead are here to help. All our services are fully flexible and we don’t tie you into long contracts. Whether you need just a few hours’ support to get you started, or monthly help with invoice reconciliation, our virtual experts are ready to meet your needs. Check out our site to find out more, or follow us on social media.

If you’re a start-up or a family enterprise and you’re mindful of the bottom line, it can be hard to think of giveaway ideas for small businesses. But the good news is that you don’t have break the bank, or leave yourself out of pocket when you give something away.

In this blog, we share our top five giveaway ideas for small businesses.

Why does giving matter to small businesses?

Giving is an essential part of any business’ marketing strategy. When we give things away, we reinforce our brand with our customers and clients. We interact with those people in a different way from usual, strengthening the professional relationship. This can be a very effective way of getting customers further down the sales funnel. It can also help you appeal to different markets who respond to different approaches.

Think of giving as lighting one candle off another – the second candle gains but the first candle loses nothing.

Top five giveaway ideas for small businesses:

Promotional items

An on-message promotional item can be a great addition to your marketing toolkit. Trainers and coaches can give out branded pens and paper so their clients can take notes. Trades often prefer a branded fridge magnet to a business card – their customers don’t have to rummage when they need a plumber quickly! Events organisers sometimes give out branded bottle openers while travel agents give out branded luggage labels.

Get Ahead has a number of suppliers in our network of contacts – if you need a recommendation for branded items, please ask!

Your own products or services

Obviously, we’re not suggesting that you just give away all your hours and stock! Instead, think about how you can use a giveaway strategically. Who is likely to respond positively to a free software trial – will it make them more likely to buy a subscription at the end? Yes, they’re using your software for free for a month, but if they turn into loyal customers then the freebie was a valuable investment. Remember to research likely groups and target them strategically so you get the best outcomes from giving away your own product or service.

Expertise

Yes, it is possible to write a blog or a newsletter without giving away your trade secrets! Instead, give away a small amount of useful knowledge that will help your clients get more from what they already buy from you. For example, letters from your bank often feature a market or finance update. By sharing these insights, banks can help customers to make their money work harder, in turn promoting more of the bank’s products.

Think about what ideas you could share that would help you and your customers at the same time.

Discounts

Even if you can’t afford to give something away completely free, consider whether you can afford to offer a discount. Do your sums and work out what percentage you discount from the price of your product or service. You can also give a discount in exchange for something, like signing up to a mailing list. Discounts like this can be excellent investments: once customers or clients have joined your community, they’re more likely to buy from you again in future.

Referrals

This one isn’t a traditional sort of giveaway, but it makes a real difference to others, grows your network and establishes you as someone worth working with.

When you’re networking, be ready to praise others in the network whom you’ve worked with. And if there’s a request for a recommendation on LinkedIn, for example, don’t be afraid to put others forward – they’ll really appreciate it!

Marketing strategy support with Get Ahead

If you think that giveaways could play a bigger part in your marketing strategy, Get Ahead would love to help you make it happen! Explore our marketing pages to find out more, or contact your local regional director today.

Many businesses share a monthly newsletter with their client community, but we’ve seen a great engagement rate from sending out a different kind of message at Christmas. Instead of the usual combination of “hero” theme, tips and discounts, Christmas is a time to engage on a more human level.

For this blog, we talked to our digital and email marketing expert Claire about how to write a business Christmas message to strengthen your business relationships for the coming year.

What do we mean by a Christmas message?

Claire: Most monthly newsletters follow a standard format. Business owners have considered what works best for them and share a great combination of product promotion, top tips and special offers.

However, Christmas is not the time for a hard sell. It’s not really the time to talk about business either. Many businesses have their golden quarter in the run-up to Christmas…but by the time Christmas actually comes, it’s time to stop talking shop and connect on a more personal level.

What should I include in my Christmas message?

Claire: The best Christmas messages include a strong awareness of the reader, appropriate emotion and gentle humour. They’re a good opportunity to invite your clients to recognise your team members who have made a particular contribution. You can also show empathy by referring to challenges you know your clients have faced in the last year.

You can show emotion in your seasonal message with phrases like, “we’ve all found X tough this year…,” “I’m really proud of Y…,” and “Z was really exciting – such a privilege to be part of it!” Referring to your feelings will help your readers see you as a person and not just a business – this will reinforce your connection.

It’s easy for clients to overlook contributions made by individual members of your team. It’s not that they’re selfish – they just don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. But giving them some new insight has two benefits. Firstly, it shows that the service or product you offer doesn’t just magically appear – this helps your clients to understand its value. Secondly, it reinforces the fact that a real person has made something happen – a real support to the message that “people buy from people.”

Lastly, your Christmas message is the time to write about your clients and not about your business. Write about industry highs and lows, and praise your clients for how well they’ve coped with any recent storms. Thank them for supporting your business, including making referrals, being understanding in times of stress and remaining loyal.

Email marketing from Get Ahead If our blog has inspired you to write a different sort of Christmas message this year, Get Ahead are here to help. Our experienced marketing team includes content writers like Claire as well as graphic designers and email automation experts. Explore our site to find out more or follow us on LinkedIn. And if you’re ready to outsource your email marketing or any other back-office support, contact your local regional director here.