Well, here we are.

The last Friday before Christmas.

For many of us (myself included), the last Friday of the year. Of the decade!

So many people I’ve talked to are exhausted. Burned out.

If you’re one of those people, I hope you’re truly taking some time off to recharge your brain, relax, and maybe mindlessly watch Netflix.

(I can recommend the third season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the second season of Jack Ryan. Both very, very good!)

That way, you’ll come into 2020 ready to do it all again with renewed energy, creative ideas, and a bounce in your step.

And we will be here to take advantage of your fresh brain.

What Is the 30-Day Communications Challenge?

The 30-Day Communications Challenge is, well, a 30-day program that will help you build (or refine) your communications program, improve your writing skills, and give you extra credit for doing things beyond the daily prompt.

It is a sprint to help you achieve your marathon goals.

It help you build a measurable PESO model program and increase metrics you can use to prove you contribute to an organization’s goals.

Because we are beginning this on January 2—and we don’t want you to be working on a plan into February—we have included emails and daily prompts on the weekends.

This means, if you set aside 30 minutes a day to work on this—and that’s about what you’ll need—you’ll need to factor in either doing the same during the weekends or building in an hour on Mondays and Tuesdays.

It’s not easy and it’s going to be a quick habit you need to build, but it’ll be worth it.

I promise.

What Will It Help Me Do?

By the time you are finished, it will help you:

• Build your visibility
• Increase your search rankings
• Make it feel like the entire world is talking about your (or your client’s) organization
• Generate more qualified inbound leads
• Nurture those leads
• Convert new customers

Who Is It For?

Here are a few examples of those who will benefit:

• Communications professionals looking to build a measurable and integrated program
• Agency owners who need a proactive business development program
• Entrepreneurs who don’t have a formal business plan
• Marketers who are charged with lead generation
• Anyone looking to add paid, earned, shared, or owned media to an existing marketing program

If you need help with planning in any form, the 30-Day Communications Challenge is for you.

How Will I Implement It?

Admittedly, the 30-Day Communications Challenge is a real sprint of a program.

You will work on it every, single day for a month.

If you do the work and follow the process, you’ll have a beautiful, complete, measurable PESO model plan that is ready to execute by February 1.

To get you there–and to stay on course—we have some tips to help:

• Do it first thing in the morning—before anything else. Before email. Before social media. Very first thing.
• Block 30 minutes in your calendar to get it done. If you’re participating in the free challenge with the daily email prompts, it’ll be in your inbox by 6 a.m. your time.
• If you bought The Communicator’s Playbook (and why wouldn’t you??), you have a little more freedom in when you do the work. We recommend a chapter a day, first thing each morning.
• Try not to get behind. If you do, you’ll lose momentum and not finish. If you miss a day, that’s OK! Just get back on the horse the next day. Don’t let it go days and days without action.
• Don’t get frustrated. A lot of this is really deep work. It may be in your brain, but putting it to paper is a labor of love. Give yourself the freedom to get it done.
• Don’t feel like you have to go it alone. If you have a team, use them to help brainstorm, pull together materials, look up data, collaborate, or just be a sounding board.
• If you don’t have a team, use the Solo PR Pro group, if you’re part of it. They’re there to help you.
• The Spin Sucks community is available to you. Use it! My entire team and I—and more than 1,110 community members—will be there every day to help you, answer questions, provide ideas, and hold you accountable.
• Go into this with the right mindset. A couple of years ago, Kathryn Mason completely rebranded her agency from the work she did in the 30-Day Communications Challenge. THAT is the right mindset. Look up to her example.
• Dig into Moz, Google AdWords, and Google analytics ahead of time. At the very least, make sure you can access them all.
• During this process, you’ll learn how to define your keywords. We’ll walk you through how to do it. But, for now, start thinking about the questions you’re asked in new business meetings. Ask your sales and/or customer service teams which questions they’re asked a lot. Keep a running list. You’ll need it.

And last, but definitely not least, I mentioned the Spin Sucks community above.

Use it. Liberally. We are there to help you. The community is there to help you.

There are no stupid questions and there is no panic attack small enough.

You have a full team of the best and brightest in the industry.

We are all here to help.

Here’s to 2020 Success!

As you start to wind 2019 down (and gratefully watch the door close; just me??), think about how we can help you achieve your goals in 2020.

It starts with the 30-Day Communications Challenge, either in the form of the free daily emails or The Communicator’s Playbook (which has more detail, more instruction, video tutorials, and help from our partners).

We want you to succeed next year.

Let us help you get there!

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash