47 Things To Make You a Better Marketer Over the Holidays

This time of year means many things to many people, of course. From conjuring up childhood memories to making to new memories with family and friends and so on. It's a time to slow down and enjoy the festive festivities, if you will. 

But who's to say the holidays can't be a learning time for we marketers? 

Not us.

So without further adieu, I give you 47 Things To Make You a Better Marketer Over the Holidays:

1. Write a blog post explaining what an ugly sweater and data driven marketing have in common.


2. Figure out what exactly is in a fruit cake. Tell no one. 


3. Go to a retail store and just watch. And listen. Take note of the experiences around you. Then apply those learnings accordingly. 


4. Build a snowman. Unless of course you live in a warm climate in which case build a virtual one. 


5. Gather with friends and family around a roaring fire and run an A/B test using real wood vs. fake wood. 


6. Make a list of everyone who used the phrase “content is king” during the past year and immediately unfriend them on Facebook. 


7. Make sure your drink is more “nog” than “egg.”


8. And speaking of that find out just what “nog” is exactly. Tell no one. 


9. Interview Santa Claus and ask him how he uses marketing automation and what's that meant for the elf economy. 


10. Play a board game with your children. An old school board game with a board and dice and pieces and cards. 


11. Catch up on your reading - marketing related or otherwise. 


12. Binge watch anything you feel like. 


13. Volunteer at a local charity. 


14. Call your friend bob and go sledding. See what we did there?


15. Use a lead scoring model to determine who gets what presents this year. 


16. Go skiing. 


17. Watch your favorite holiday movie. 


18. Elf yourself. 


19. Visit someone in person you have not spoken to face to face for a while. No texting. No Snapchatting. Just old school face to face. 


20. Listen to podcasts.


21. Clean out your in-box. 


22. Exercise. 


23. Try a new restaurant. 


24. Read a newspaper. A real one. Not a digital version. 


25. Bake something. 


26. Take a trip to someplace you've never been to before. 


27. Make a list of everyone who used the phrase “this is the year of mobile” during the past year and immediately unfriend them on Facebook. 


28. Unplug everything. Literally. 


29. Host a party.


30. Establish KPIs that must be met by all partygoers. Ok, you can ignore that one. 


31. Make and send a holiday card for someone in the military. 


32. Make a New Year's resolution. 


33. Sleep in. 


34. Sing a holiday song. 


35. Write a list of everything you are grateful for.


36. Spend a day in your pajamas.


37. Make a gingerbread house. 


38. Make a plan for the marketing events you want to attend in 2017. 


39. Adopt a family in need. 


40. Go out on a drive to see holiday lights.


41. Start a new holiday tradition. 


42. Change the lyrics to Blue Christmas from “I'll have a Blue Christmas without you” to “I'll have a Blue Christmas without account based marketing.”


43. Put a CTA on all gift tags.


44. Learn something new. Yes, anything. See #2.


45. Make a list of everyone who used the phrase “run it up the flagpole” during the past year and immediately unfriend them on Facebook. 


46. Go see a movie or show. 


47. Breathe. Yes, breathe. Just take it all in. Live in the moment. Don't take everything so seriously.

**BONUS**

Download the Lead Scoring Guide For Modern Marketers. It really does make... wait for it... the perfect gift.