While things start moving quickly for the rest of the world during the holiday season, once it hits about mid-December, the marketing industry comes to a grinding halt. Our clients are on vacation, the threshold for being able to order products in time for Christmas has passed, and most marketing budgets have been reduced to nothing but dust at the bottom of a piggy bank.

So, what can agencies do during this time? You've got about a month and a half before campaigns will start to kick off again to promote Valentine's Day and unless you have (by some miracle) managed to totally knock down your to-do pile, you probably shouldn't be planning an extended trip to the Bahamas.

Now, it's more than acceptable to take some time away from work during the holidays, but don't let this time go by without using at least some of it effectively. Before you know it, clients will start sounding the alarm bell and all those really beneficial things you kept meaning to do will remain at the bottom of your to-do list for another year.

Here are three ways I suggest you spend the slow season.

Give Your Company a Facelift

Be honest: How long has it been since you've updated your branding? How long has it been since you saw the backend of your website?

The client always comes first, and while they certainly do demand a lot of time and attention, letting your own digital presence decay is a nasty habit that we digital marketing agencies need to break. You're trying to sell yourself as a digital specialist, but nobody is going to take you seriously if your email newsletter lapsed six months ago and your site is built on an outdated Squarespace template.

Take some time to give your own brand a little TLC. Get the gears in motion to freshen up your branding and plan ahead with some evergreen social media content that you can schedule to post and not have to worry about. Start thinking about a new design for your website. Here's a good barometer: If your site has been static for five years or more, it needs updating.

Internet aesthetics move fast and prospective clients will be able to tell if you haven't been tending to your own garden.

These updates are essential not just for appearances, but also for positioning. The way you project yourself online will be the difference between being seen as a digital expert and problem solver or just a content mill.

Add Value to Your Campaigns

As brands and companies increasingly take their marketing efforts in-house, it's more important than ever to stand out as more than just a marketing agency. Your agency needs to be at the forefront of technology, understand new and existing digital avenues better than your potential client, and — most essentially — add value.

A lot of marketing agencies don't know what distinguishes them from their competitors. When you have this winter downtime, that's the time to find out. The answer will be beneficial, whether it turns out you're more valuable than other agencies, or you have some work to do.

Take this time to develop the skills and offerings that will set you apart. Here are just a few value-adds that you can start investing in:

• Up your game on TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram Reels so you become known as an agency that can execute attractive, engaging and highly viral content.

• Rethink your LinkedIn approach and how you can position your client's professional profiles as thought leaders. LinkedIn is becoming a creator-driven space, and now is the time to start standing out.

Stagnation, or allowing themselves to be "buried under work," is what causes even good digital marketing firms to become known for producing average work. Let their failure be your advantage.

Set Up Your Selling Power

The purpose of owning a business is to grow it, scale it and make more money for you and your employees year after year. If you're not continually finding new ways to sell your services, you're going to plateau quickly.

Going forward from the downtime period, treat every client and campaign as an opportunity to experiment. Stop offering standard service packages. Instead, with your clients, come up with a list of services that will do the most to advance their campaign.

Diversifying is what will put your business financially ahead of the pack. Not every client is going to need the standard "four social media platforms and a blog" package you're trying to box them into. Sell your company as a conte​​nt-based business where clients are paying for production and products rather than just work.

Think about it this way: If your revenue is just "billable hours," the only way you can scale your business is by constantly increasing your client roster, keeping you perpetually trapped in as a high-volume, low-margin business.

Enjoy your holiday season and take part in a well-deserved break from the daily grind. But remember, that's what most of your competition will be doing too. Open hours are one of the best and rarest assets an agency can have. Let them pass by at your own risk.