Think about it: The ending is often the most powerful part of the story. It’s true for movies, championship games, and—yes—your business year.
Right now, it’s the fourth quarter. The finish line is in sight, and how you close out the year can make or break your overall success. This isn’t the time to play small—it’s the time to swing big.
At my own $119 million company, PostcardMania, Q4 is one of our busiest and most profitable seasons. In fact, along with Q1, it consistently drives the most growth. Since 2020, our annual revenue has grown an average of 14.8 percent—up from just 4.7 percent in the decade before. That’s a 215 percent increase in growth rate.
My point? It’s never too late to adjust your strategy and change your trajectory, especially when consumer spending is at its peak like it is during the holidays. Here are the proven marketing strategies I use (and recommend to you) for finishing the year strong.
Analyze your marketing
To move forward, sometimes you have to look back. Take time to review your results from the past year. Which campaigns drove revenue? Which fell flat?
Don’t just look at engagement—measure impact in terms of sales and ROI. Figure out which marketing channel had the highest return on investment, and then do more of it.
For my business, direct mail has always had the highest return.
In 2024, I did my own research and discovered that direct mail delivered six times more revenue per lead than digital ads. First we analyzed 115,393 leads and which ones converted. By dividing the income by the number of leads, we made $253.54 for every postcard lead versus $41.60 for every digital lead. That is a 500 percent difference!
And it’s not just us: The research backs this up. One study found that direct mail recipients purchased 28 percent more items and spent 28 percent more money than those who did not receive the mail piece.
If you want to test direct mail for your own business, I suggest direct mail retargeting. With a bit of code on your website connected to a direct mail automation platform, you can automatically trigger postcards to:
- Shoppers who abandoned their carts
- Website visitors who browsed but didn’t buy
- Prospects who filled out forms but didn’t convert
Add a special offer or discount to your postcard to give them a reason to return. These campaigns are as easy to set up as automated emails, and they’re incredibly effective.
Give your fourth quarter everything you’ve got
Holiday spending is no joke. Nearly half of small businesses earn 25 percent or more of their annual revenue during this season.
If you’ve identified the channels delivering the highest ROI, now’s the time to double down. Increasing your marketing budget, even by a modest 3–10 percent, can significantly boost results.
Don’t spread your budget thin. Pour more into the platforms and campaigns that directly generate dollars.
The math is simple: Bigger marketing budgets often lead to bigger growth. For example:
- PayPal spent 6.3 percent of revenue on marketing and sales, resulting in 7 percent revenue growth (FY2023)
- Atlassian invested 16 percent, earning about 26 percent growth (FY2023)
- Asana spent about 55 percent of its revenue, leading to 45 percent growth (FY2023)
At PostcardMania, every time we’ve increased our marketing investment, we’ve seen returns. Our most successful clients are also the ones who commit the most consistently to large-scale campaigns.
That’s why my No. one piece of marketing advice has always been and will always be that you have to market more than you think is reasonably sane to create any real momentum.
Follow the money and you can’t go wrong.
Q4 is your chance to end the year not just strong, but spectacular. By analyzing what works, doubling down on your most profitable channels, and increasing your investment, you’ll set your business up for record-breaking results.
Don’t wait—swing big, finish strong, and let this be the year you close with a home run.
Joy Gendusa
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