Don't wind down, wind up! 2027 is coming...
Charlotte Neilson, Naked Creative's Senior Marketing Consultant, alongside Carla Forbes, Director.
It's October. Christmas is creeping into conversations, everyone's eyeing up the summer holidays, and there's a collective determination to clear the inbox, finish the to-do list and get through to December in one piece.
Fair enough. It's been a big year. But what if, instead of winding down, you used the next couple of months to get a serious head start on 2027?
January has a funny way of catching businesses out. We arrive back refreshed, full of ambition and ready to make it a massive year, only to discover the website still needs work, the branding is looking tired, the social media hasn't had much love and that marketing plan we've been meaning to get around to is still exactly that. A plan.
By the time everything is sorted, we're halfway through the first quarter, and that's a lot of opportunity to leave on the table.
Don’t wait till January - There's something to be said for getting ahead while everyone else is starting to switch off. October and November are a brilliant opportunity to take a proper look at your business and ask whether your marketing is really keeping up with your ambitions.
You might be fantastic at what you do, but if your brand, website and marketing aren't communicating that, you're making life unnecessarily hard for yourself. Customers have plenty of choice, and how you present your business has a huge influence on whether you even make the shortlist.
Getting your marketing sorted now means you can spend January actually doing business rather than getting ready for it. We've developed two practical programmes at Naked Creative for businesses that are serious about making 2027 a big year.
Market Ready is for businesses looking to launch, grow or give their marketing a much-needed overhaul. It brings together professional branding, a website that works, a considered social media presence and the business essentials, along with opportunities to build awareness through our media partnerships.
We've also developed Tender Ready, specifically for engineering, manufacturing, construction and industrial businesses looking to compete for bigger contracts, tenders and procurement opportunities.
We work with some incredibly capable businesses in these sectors, and one thing we've learned is that being brilliant at what you do doesn't automatically mean you're presenting your business in a way that reflects it.
When procurement teams are assessing potential suppliers, they're looking beyond technical capability. Your website, company profile, branding and supporting documentation all contribute to how professional, established and credible your business appears.
Tender Ready brings those elements together so your business is presenting itself with the same professionalism and confidence that goes into the work you deliver.
Both programmes have been designed to make getting your business sorted straightforward, with clear deliverables and the strategic thinking and creative expertise we'd bring to any major project.
And the timing couldn't be better. Good marketing takes thought, and getting everything working together takes a bit of planning. Market Ready typically takes six to eight weeks, while Tender Ready can generally be delivered in four to six weeks, depending on the scope and how quickly we can work together.
Start now and you could have everything in place to hit January with your marketing sorted, your business looking the part and a much stronger platform to pursue the opportunities ahead.
I'm all for a well-earned summer break, but I also know how quickly the first few months of the year disappear when you're busy running a business.
So before you mentally clock off for Christmas, have a think about what you want 2027 to look like and whether your business is genuinely ready to make the most of it.
If you've been putting off getting your brand, website or marketing sorted, or you know there are bigger contracts and opportunities you want to be competing for next year, now would be a very good time to get cracking.
Let's get you Market Ready or Tender Ready for 2027.
