8 Marketing Resolutions for New Year 2013

December 18th 2012 | By Steve Grant

With January 1^st fast approaching, why not take this opportunity to consider some New Year marketing resolutions for your business?  Think about what the changing New Year will bring and the opportunities and threats that you need to address.

Here are 8 resolutions that we believe will make all the difference:

1. Take an honest, unbiased look at your marketing activities from the previous year.  Assess the original objectives, the results and the costs. If online advertising worked for you, would it make sense to apportion more of your budget this year? Could it be even more successful with more funds?
2. Take New Year – new start literally.  Did anything in the previous year really fail to achieve any results?  Are you hanging on to a notion because you like the idea rather than it actually working?  Now is the time to re-evaluate. Be strict: cull the non-performers.
3. Set realistic and achievable goals for the coming year and ensure that they are measurable so that you can monitor progress over the months ahead.
4. Take a critical look at your corporate identity and the customer focused touch points.  Does your website give the same message and image as your sales material?  What about your press releases and social media stories? Sometimes we can get so focused on individual aspects of our business that we don’t realise we may be giving mixed messages to our customers.  
5. It could be time in 2013 to explore new media or marketing opportunities.  Even if it means pushing you out of your comfort boundaries.  There are so many new avenues now to explore.  Consider mobile – could this work for your business?  What about apps? Make 2013 the year you diversify!
6. Create meaningful content.  We all know that fresh content is absolutely critical online to keeping both customers and search engines happy.  There really is no excuse in 2013 not to be updating your website with meaningful content on a regular basis.  Use blogs, product stories, case studies and product reviews to your advantage.
7. Consider whether all forms of social media are right for your business. There are so many different social media channels now and it may be tempting to devote time and resources to signing up to all of these. First, ask yourself some questions to ascertain if it’s worth it. Does your particular target audience lean towards a particular form of social media? Do you have time to devote to this?  Define your goals.
8. Find out more about what your customers want. Don’t neglect your existing customers in your bid to find new ones. Listen to what they’re telling you and try to accommodate them.

Let’s hope that 2013 is a successful and prosperous year for us all. If you need assistance with marketing, your website or with your corporate identity, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.