My annual advice to Santa for 2024

Quiet Christmas in the Zhou household this year! This year was really focused on my parents’ health (thankfully everyone is doing well), so no big travel or holiday plans. Honestly though, this is my favorite way to spend the holidays — At home, playing cards and board games, with a pinch of alone time. That last part being what I’m enjoying right now as I sit down to share my annual advice to Santa for what to focus on in 2024. (Tongue in cheek and having a bit of fun, as always.) This year, I’ve got 5 things to share. So here we go… Thing #1: There’s a lot of noise right now about hyper-personalization next year. Basically personalizing your messaging depending on the specific customer. For example, I’m seeing more opt-ins that post opt-in, try and pinpoint where in their customer journey a prospect is…theoretically so the content they see after opting in will be customized perfectly for them. In my opinion though, next year is not the year. For one, the tech options I’m seeing for doing this still need a good amount of work. Plus, even more importantly, this is way too complicated for the majority of businesses. If you’re not at multiple 7- or possibly maybe even 8-figures per year, this is not something you even need to be worrying about yet. It’s way more important to focus on knowing your core customer, and offering a product they want. For Santa, no changes here. He’s already world-class at delivering the right product (gifts) to the right customer (kids). Which is what matters most. 🎁 Thing #2: This is one of those rare times when I DO agree with what most are saying: That we will definitely see more AI-driven marketing, especially conversational marketing. One of my favorite examples is from earlier this year, when popular cleaning brand The Laundress had to do a massive product recall. Heading to their website to participate in the recall, I was greeted with a very nice chatbot that pleasantly surprised me with how simple and painless the entire process — of sharing my information and getting my refund — was. So it’s something to look out for and consider. Especially as this is going to train customers in general to expect even faster instant gratification, including some sort of interaction (even if not human), than they do now. I’m going to keep my eye on this, but it’s not a key focus for LZ Land next year. The reason? I still maintain that ideal customers for courses are patient(-ish) and self-led. If I were to do something, I’d maybe add a chatbot to the site that helps visitors connect with the information or opt-in that will best help them. (Santa: Maybe it’d be cool to add a chatbot to your website, so we’ve got an easier option than mailing letters to the North Pole to let you know about our dream gifts!) But chances are very low we’ll do even that. At least for next year. Because as I’ve always said, if you make extra effort to drive the sale, make sure you’re prepared to make that effort in the delivery of the sale as well. More on this in “Thing #5” below. Thing #3: With AI being integrated into more and more business operations next year, I think this actually presents an incredible opportunity for, well, humans. Especially if you’re newer in your business. Because I think it will actually be easier than ever to stand out with humanized content. In other words, content that doesn’t just present information, but also shares your experience and opinion along with it. The good news is? This is the way I’ve always done — and have always taught — content and marketing. So if you’ve been following my advice, you are in a good place! And Santa, if you’re reading this…I know we’d all love to see a bit more behind-the-scenes on all the cute reindeer. Plus maybe some snippets on how you decide who’s Naughty and who’s Nice? (So you know…we know how to make sure we’re on the Nice list.) Thing #4: This is not new, or an insight that is unique to me by any means. But it’s so important, I’ve got to call it out — Video will continue to dominate in marketing. That’s one of the reasons we doubled down on Youtube this year. And will continue to do so next year. It doesn’t matter which platform you choose. And in fact, I wouldn’t recommend Youtube as your first platform to double down on if you’re newer in business. Too resource intensive. But no matter which platform you’re on, get us some video of you! Santa: I’ve been saying this in my last two annual letters (at least I’m pretty sure). But so many TikTok ideas for you — how you put together the presents you create, an overview of the assembly line, gift-wrapping tips, reindeer cuteness…and so much more. Maybe next year’s the year? Thing #5: Haven’t heard anyone else talk about this, but it’s something I’m personally focusing more on in 2024: Customer success. We’ve always had a pretty good support structure in place, and we’re already above average for the industry. But I think there’s room for improvement here — while walking that fine line between providing great support and maintaining fair boundaries (like treating your customers as self-responsible adults, and not letting people out of their payment plans just because they don’t feel like finishing their payments). Important line to walk, especially for service / information type businesses. And not something many talk about. But based on what I see and am feeling, strong customer service is going to become more and more of a differentiating factor as front-end marketing gets more slick but many fail to keep up on their back-end. Not sure what the end result will look like here in LZ Land, but I’ll be testing a few things and as always, sharing what we learn. (Everyone loves Santa, so no changes rec’d here!) ….. Whew, I really meant it when I said we were having a quiet and introspective family holiday! These thoughts just flowed…and turned into a significantly longer email than the usual! But hopefully you’ve found it helpful and maybe a little thought-provoking too. Even if this email didn’t have as many funny moments as my annual Santa letters do. Alright, time for me to get back to the family time part of the holiday. Hope you’re having a wonderful end of the year too. And happy holidays to you and your family. ❤️ 
 Cheers, Luisa Zhou If you no longer wish to receive these emails, click here to [unsubscribe]( Zhou Ventures, Inc. 459 Columbus Ave #4049 New York, NY 10024