08 Feb Are you ready for winter? How the bears are preparing and how you should, too.

This photo and the YouTube video were taken from a safe distance (inside the house).

The bears have been in my yard (one of them is shown above)… and the fox, moose, and deer. Oh, and there are birds and squirrels.

How do I know?

1. The squirrels are high up in the Pine trees chewing off  pine cones – thump, thump they fall to the ground. Then, they grab the pine cones and stash them in the corner of my garden.
2. The dogs’ noses are on high alert. They go out in the yard with their noses to the ground frantically sniffing the entire yard. They’ll be gone for a while as their noses usually lead them to the park or the creek. Wet dog, yay…
3. The Blue Jays are all over the bird feeder and on the ground below it. They are quite aggressive, and no other birds are allowed around the feeder when they are there.
4. Our hummingbird feeder was pulled from the tree. Twice. The first time, the bear drank the syrup and then daintily sat the feeder on the ground intact. The second time, the bear smashed the feeder into pieces on the ground (that savage bear!).
5. The bird feeder was pulled from the tree and left on the ground. I actually have a video of the bear in the yard with the feeder! See it on YouTube.

I love this time of year. The leaves are changing, the animals are preparing for winter, the days are warm and the nights are chilly.

So you may be wondering what this has to do with marketing. I do have a point; although, this blog is more about life, work, and a little bit of marketing.

This is a busy time of year for me with the biggest trade show of the year in mid-November. Amidst this busyness, I still take the time to watch the busyness going on in the yard. It is truly fascinating to watch these animals going about their day and collecting all of the food they can before the snow hits. My takeaway – take the time to just sit and watch. This is nature at its best.

For us humans, we are also preparing not only for the winter but for 2017. This is the time of year that companies examine their 2016 results and work on their 2017 plans. I am working with a number of clients to analyze the results of our 2016 marketing activities:

• How many Marketing Qualified Leads did we receive from activities such as email campaigns and events?
• Were the results of our digital marketing efforts effective? Did our social media activities grow engagement, influence, and web traffic?
• Is our messaging on point? Is our content relaying the right information to our audience?
• Are we effective in our partner route-to-market? Do we have the right partners? Are we co-marketing with our most effective partners? Do we have the right co-marketing plans?
• On the website, what are the top page or content hits? How long are visitors staying on the website? Do we need to update the web content?

The output of all of these questions and analysis is a 2017 Strategic Marketing Plan (or Go-To-Market plan – I sometimes use the terms interchangeably).

So as the bears, birds, and squirrels get ready for winter, I am going to take the time to watch nature at its best… in between preparing for SC16, helping clients prepare for SC16, and helping clients with their 2017 marketing plans.

About the author: Kim McMahon has performed sales and marketing for more years than she cares to count. She writes frequently on marketing, life, the world and how they sometimes all come together.