There never seems to be enough time in the year, and as the new year approaches, many companies struggle to find effective ways to spend any remaining funds in their yearly budget.

While the best way to spend end-of-the-year budgets is unique to each company and department within each company, one of the most effective and proactive ways to spend it is by putting it towards something that will benefit your company in the upcoming year.

If you're struggling to choose the best way to spend your funds before you lose them or are just looking for some beneficial ways to prepare for the transition into the new year, you've come to the right place. We have compiled 8 ways you can use your year-end budget effectively.

8 Effective Ways to Use Your End-of-the-Year Budget

Prepare for The New Year with Fresh Business Essentials

Business essentials are branded materials your company uses regularly and may vary depending on your industry. These materials include business cards, letterhead, envelopes, appointment cards, menus, labels, and more.

These materials are critical for your company to always have on hand so they are prepared for customer interactions and daily operations. Because they are used so often, by putting your remaining funds towards them, you are equipped and have less to worry about while you prepare for new initiatives for the new year.

These materials are defined as essential, not only because they are necessities for any business type, but because they also increase brand exposure and enhance interactions and engagement with customers and potential ones.

Launch a Direct Mail Campaign to Invest for the Year Ahead

Direct mail has a higher response rate than any digital marketing channel, direct mail recipients spend more money, brand recall is higher with direct mail, and people prefer to be contacted via direct mail. Because there are so many benefits to direct mail marketing, a great way to use those remaining funds and increase sales and engagement in the new year is by launching a direct mail campaign.

This could include mailing a catalog to your most valuable customers, sending a postcard with a special offer to a new targeted audience, using Every Door Direct Mail to introduce your brand to a large local audience, or mailing a letter to your audience with details on what’s ahead for the upcoming year.

If you decide to launch a direct mail campaign, it’s important that you include your branding in the design and that you provide some kind of offer or incentive with a way for your audience to take action. By doing so, you’ll strengthen brand awareness and encourage individuals to make a purchase or learn more about your company.

Highlight Your Company’s Offerings with an Eye-Catching Brochure

Brochures are an effective tool for many industries to showcase products, services, event details, company bios, menu options, and more. For example, restaurants can use them as takeout menus, clinics and medical institutions can use them to provide essential health information, financial businesses use them to highlight specialized services, nonprofit organizations will use them to promote their cause and drive donations, corporate companies use them to share infographics during meetings, and event coordinators will use event brochures to highlight event schedules.

Because brochures are so versatile and come in many different types, there are endless possibilities for using a brochure to promote your business and message. If you’re unsure how to spend the remaining funds in your end-of-the-year budget, creating an eye-catching brochure to share with your audience is the perfect way to drive engagement and sales. If you already use brochures as menus, product or service listings, or for any other reason, you can even order more with your remaining funds to prepare for the new year ahead.

Send a Thank You Postcard to Your Top Customers

One of the best ways to strengthen customer relationships and encourage repeat business is by thanking your customers. Toward the end of the year, gather a list of your top customers, supporters, business partners, or even the new customers you gained over the year. From there, design a postcard thanking them for their business with an offer such as a discount, a freebie, or other incentive. This will encourage repeat business while showing your customers that you appreciate and value them.

You can even take it a step further and personalize each thank you postcard to be unique to each recipient. For example, you could include their names like “Thank you, Daniel” and “Thank you, Jane.”

Keep in mind that, yes, you could just send an email thanking your customers. Still, direct mail has a stronger emotional connection with people, and studies even prove that most people (73%) prefer to be contacted by brands via direct mail as it’s more trustworthy and personal. Plus, printing and mailing a thank you card to your top customers is extremely affordable thanks to Postcard Commingling, meaning you might even have some extra funds to take advantage of one of these other great ideas.

Order Branded Materials for The Office

Branded office materials enhance company image, boost employee morale, and increase brand awareness. Maybe you already have branded materials in the office and are running low and could benefit from getting ahead for the upcoming year, or perhaps you don't have any or could use other materials. If so, ordering branded materials for the office and placing them on the front desk or in the waiting room or to gift to your employees or customers is an effective way to spend any remaining funds you might have.

Some of our most popular branded office supplies include notepads and stick notes, pocket folders, and promotional items like pens, coffee mugs, badge clips, apparel, and more.

Enhance Your Holiday Promotions

There are many holidays to prepare for, including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Sunday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and more. Each provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate and promote a special offer or event.

Suppose you already have a holiday promotion planned, like a winter gala or holiday-specific sale. In that case, you can use your remaining budget to enhance your advertising efforts. For example, order promotional banners, posters, or event brochures to promote your event or sale. You can even launch a direct mail campaign with a festive postcard promoting your holiday offer to increase sales.

Suppose your company doesn’t typically participate in holiday-specific events or promotions. In that case, you might consider sending holiday greeting cards to your top customers. Similar to sending out thank you postcards, sending out holiday greeting cards strengthens customer relationships and encourages repeat business.

Send Your Audience a Custom Calendar to Increase Brand Exposure

Custom calendars are essential for promoting your business. By including your logo and other branded elements, as well as an offer or details about your company's offerings on each page of your calendar, you create an advertising piece that lasts all year long. Every time someone checks the date or jots down an important reminder, they're reminded of your brand, enhancing your brand exposure and putting it at the top of mind amongst your audience.

With your remaining funds, create a custom promotional calendar and send one to your top customers or prospects to increase sales and brand exposure for the upcoming year. If this idea sounds like the right option for your goals, make sure to take advantage of our free calendar design templates, which include all of the months' details and national holidays to save you some time.

Save Time in the New Year with a Web-to-Print Portal

With each year seeming to fly by faster and faster, spending your year-end budget on something that helps you save time is the perfect solution for preparing for the new year. Luckily, Web-to-Print Portals can help you save a tremendous amount of time on ordering and managing your marketing and sales materials. They save you time by storing all of your company's branded assets, including business cards, marketing materials, direct mail items, promotional products, and digital assets, in one place, allowing you to streamline the ordering process. For example, when a new employee needs business cards or a franchisee needs to order banners and flyers, instead of having your marketing and design team get everything ready and find a printer to order them, employees can just access your private Web-to-Print Portal, choose the material they need, customize it if accessible, and place an order in seconds.

Taking advantage of a Web-to-Print Portal is one of the most proactive and effective ways to use your end-of-the-year budget. If you're interested in learning more about how they work and how they can benefit your company in the upcoming year, click below to schedule a quick 10-minute demo today.

Conclusion: Get the Most Out of Your Year-End Budget

As the year comes to an end, companies need to be proactive and think ahead in order to get the most out of their year-end budget.

While your company's goals and remaining funds may heavily determine how you spend what you have left, it's a smart idea to put those funds into something that will benefit you in the upcoming year and help your company finish the current year on a solid note and print marketing might just be the right option for you.

Print marketing is powerful in building strong customer relationships, boosting brand awareness, increasing sales, and providing a tangible touchpoint to your brand for your audience. Whether it's replenishing your business cards and stationery, thanking your valued customers with a postcard and special offer, or streamlining your processes with tools like Web-to-Print Portals, the materials and strategies listed above are suited for any goal you may have. Remember, the end of this year is just the previous chapter to the next, and investing your year-end budget wisely ensures that your company's next chapter is successful.

Like one of the ideas? Click on the best option above to learn more or to get started on maximizing your end-of-the-year budget today.