THIS WORKS! December's SECRET Intent Play + Don't Send Me a Holiday Card!🎁 Jay’s SCOOP | Ep. 458

0:00Welcome to Do This Not That, the podcast from marketers. We share quick tips, things you can do right now, and then we add a little bit of chaos at the end of every episode. We also keep it short, like this intro. Let's check it out. We are back for Do This, Not That podcast, and I wanted to rip through this tactic that works so well in the month of December and a little bit into January that I think most marketers sleep on. Whether you're a business-to-business marketer, consumer, or nonprofit, it doesn't matter. there is a way to get really good leads, really good pipeline, really good opportunity in the month of December.

0:41And everybody usually just mails it in like, oh, Thanksgiving's over. I'm turning off my brain until the second week of January. But this is a golden time for one specific tactic, and that is using intent signals as your offer. When you use intent signals as your offer in the month of December, we see it actually generate over a 30 % increase than any other content-related offer in the month of December. And that's for business, consumer, nonprofit, and that's from World Data Research. What does that even mean? So often what we're doing in the month of December is we're filling up our databases with kind of garbage.

1:20We're putting out content that's just really super top of funnel. That is this stuff like the 2026 outlook, whatever, or on the consumer side, these outrageous discounts, whatever. But if you use intent signals as your offer, you can get a lot of people coming into your database and a lot of the right people at the right moment. What do I mean by that? So let's say, for example, first on the business to business side, what does an intent signal offer feel like, sound like, look like. So if you went out with an offer now, that was your Q1 readiness audit, okay, or the end of year vendor comparison checklist, or your RFP kickstart hit.

2:09Why do these things work? Well, Well, first off, anybody that wants to download or visit a blog or consume content that's related to a vendor comparison checklist or an RFP kickstart hit, what does that really mean? That means that that company, that person is thinking about doing an RFP. That means that they're looking at comparing vendors. And the reason this time of year is critical for that is when do you think most change happens as it relates to business to business vendors? It happens right now and into the month of January. So when you take your content and you package it up, okay, into this mid funnel opportunity where the people that are consuming it, you're able to identify who is in market potentially for your product or thing, you not only get a lot more people during this time of year, but you get the people that are doing it right now and you're tapping into their mindset of them exploring a potential other vendor.

3:15Now on the consumer side, you can also play this same exact game. You want to tap into the people that are in market to buy products right now. So if you went out and you said, and your offer was last minute hero finder, what is that really saying? Like, oh, this person's still out there shopping. They're trying to find the thing. We're going to speak to that right now. Okay. What about if you had something like VIP early access for sellout items? You're now going back to your database of customers who say, listen, we sold out here, but we know you still want it. Here's where it is. Okay. Or something, let's say you have a big product you're pushing like a couch.

4:00Before you replace your couch, check this. And the reason that matters is now you are talking to people that are in market for replacing their couch or replacing whatever it is. Still need one more gift? This helps. You want to use the intent that the person has. They may not even realize it. And that is how you crush on the nonprofit side. This is the best time of year. The month of December is perfect for these intense signals, right? Something along the lines of donation impact calculator or sponsor a need selector. Meaning you are looking for the people that actually want to make a donation right now.

4:40And if your content and your offers speak to what they're looking for and then they react to it, you win. And the month of December is when all of this actually turns into magic. All right. So if you've never really considered doing intent signal marketing, it is right now and into like the first half of January, it crushes it because this is when people are looking for those last minute gifts. This is when people are changing their business to business platforms or vendors. And this is when they're thinking about their donations because this is when they could make it the tax advantage before the end of the year.

5:16Special time of year. All right, let's get into the ridiculous portion of this podcast. Since you didn't ask, this is where I talk about nonsense. So this time of year is always like, things drive me wild. I can't handle it. So what do I mean by that? First off, we got in the mail. I know I'm going to get shredded for this. My family will I mean, whatever. We got in the first holiday card in the mail, right? I don't know what lists we're on, but we only get holiday cards of families that I'm convinced we have not spoken to in, I don't know, 10 plus years. And then we get these holiday cards of these people that I have no really, I mean, I know who they are.

5:58Do I care? I hope they're doing well, but do I care? a little bit, not much. And here's the problem. My wife takes the holiday card because, oh, it's so nice to send us. And then we put it up and we prominently display it somewhere in our house. We walk by it every day. And for like a solid 30 days, there's usually like four or five of these holiday cards of these random families that I have no relationship with anymore that I'm walking by every day. And I'm like, I don't care. Can we just put a picture of our family or something. I need to get, there needs to be an expiration date that if you don't talk to a family for a certain period of time, you get off their list and they, we need to not put them up in my house.

6:41I need to, I need to get involved with which ones we are putting up in our houses. What else is on my way? Oh, I was thinking about this last night. I was watching TV and I saw a commercial, a holiday commercial, Christmas commercial, whatever for a car. And I feel like every other holiday commercial are people getting surprised that somebody else bought them a car, like as a holiday gift. Is this happening? Have you ever heard of anybody that you know in your life being like, guess what? I came home and there was a ribbon on this giant car and my significant other got me a car for the hall for Christmas, for whatever.

7:22I've never once heard that. And yet the amount of commercials that you see with this scenario taking place, you would think people were like gifting each other like cupcakes or something. Does this happen? Like people are surprising each other with cars. Do I just have crappy friends or whatever that people don't get me a car? If you want to give me a car, get me a car. I don't know. I don't know. What am I talking about? I don't know. Anyway, listen, appreciate you. And you want a partner, go to jschwedelson.com. We can do all sorts of stuff. You were in my agency. You were with me. You could block me.

7:59You did it. You made it to the end. But wait, the party is not over. Listen, I want to keep hanging out. Subscribe to this podcast. And if it wasn't the worst podcast you've ever listened to, give it a five-star review. Why not? But you know what? I want to do even more with you. Go to gurumediahub.com and we can partner there. You could find out about all of our free events, all of our stuff. and if you're epically bored, go to jschwedelson.com and we can stay connected. You can find my newsletter and everything else I got going on. Thanks for being here and hope you subscribe.