The Q4 crunch: How to make the most of the next 45 days (& 3 random thoughts)

November 15th.

To most, a normal, unimportant day.

To those in marketing, it signifies half way through the last quarter of the year.

Now is usually the time when marketing leaders start to get emails with subject lines like this:

• "Q4 ending soon, push harder!"
• "How can we get more leads before EOY?"
• "THE BOARD JUST YELLED AT ME WE NEED 11,000 MORE CLOSED WON DEALS BEFORE JAN 1"
• etc.

"Time is a construct" - my cynical friend always says.

And to some degree, he's right.

The difference between getting a new lead or closing a new deal on 12/31 vs 1/1 REALLY doesn't matter (fight me on it...).

The ONLY place it matters? Someone's EOY or EOQ report.

That's it.

SO, if you're pressured to 'do more' in the last 45 days of the year to satisfy a report, here are 3 things you can do, and 3 things you should consider instead.

3 things to impact the end of Q4

I don't even really want to write this section, because it's short-sighted, and most, if not all 'good' that comes from these actions isn't sustainable past Q4... but alas, I've been in your shoes so here we go...

1. Double down on what's working - If you're running media across 4 channels, and only 1 of them is driving significant leads at an appropriate cost, shift as much budget there as you can. Drive hard what's converting, and pull the budget from what's not. Now isn't the time for vanity spend diversification.
2. Send out those emails - Contact your owned audience via a free medium, email. Last minute offers, incentives, and urgency messages can hit the inbox at light speed (or at least the speed of your modem) and generally takes very little effort.
3. Call, personally, all those prospects who were on the fence - You're under pressure EOY, so are your prospects. Call them, personalize your outreach, really try to solve a problem for them, and see if you can get them over the finish line with some 'if you sign before EOY, I will ______ for you' messaging.

3 things to do in the end of Q4 that have a sustained impact in 2023

Ok... now that we're done manipulating the reporting numbers to appease leadership... let's talk about what you should do in the closing weeks of Q4 that will actually benefit your performance in the long term in 2023/beyond.

WARNING: None of these are sexy, buzzwordy, or "cool". They involve analysis, and boring old 'work' - but they're critical to 2023.

1. Analyze your CRM from 2022 - Q1 is right around the corner, deep dive into your CRM from 2022 and answer a few questions: What worked well in 1Q22? When were deals generated? What services were sold? Are there any patterns to plan for next quarter? Are there contracts expiring you should be on top of? (retention is easier than new acquisition afterall...).
2. GO TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS - It's Q4, offer them gift cards, or other incentives to sit down and tell you everything. What they like, what they hate, what they anticipate their challenges to be in 2023. Hear directly from your best and worst customers about what YOU can do to support THEM.. and build that into your 2023 plan.
3. Based on 1 & 2, plan to make ?? content - B2B creators and UGC will be big in 2023, but so will the 'usual stuff'. Blogs, podcasts, videos, etc. Your content should revolve exclusively around your customers/prospects pain points and how you can help alleviate them. Hear from your customers, identify the themes in their feedback, and build your Q1 content calendar to cover every single topic/concern/issue they bring up.

Don't let Q4 pressure detract from building performance in 2023 and beyond.

3 random thoughts

1. Like it or not, big brands are doing Web3 things - swoosh.nike
2. LOTS of opportunity to be culturally relevant in creative coming up. Examples: All major holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa), events like the FIFA World Cup, NYE, etc.
3. Don't forget to recharge yourself. Enjoy time with your family this holiday season. Work is important - but time is also a construct ;p