Marketing in 2013 – How to Get Going

Happy New Year!

Well, if you are like a lot of our clients, you are now in crunch mode trying to get your marketing plans in place for this year. (Or, maybe you still haven’t set aside some time to really start thinking about it.) Either way, we wanted to pass along some of our thoughts on how you should tackle the year ahead.

First, we are very excited about this year – we think that it is a great time to have a business and there are so many great ways to get the word out about your brand!

To get started some people are overwhelmed at the prospect of looking at the entire year in one chunk. Things are bound to change (budgets, the marketplace, etc.) over the course of the year so it may be better for you to take baby steps. Instead of planning out the whole year, which can certainly be daunting, think about doing quarterly planning. This will also help you manage your busy quarters against your slower ones.  So, what do the next three months look like for you?

The next piece of advice for you may sound cliché but here it is. You need to set goals for yourself! It is really important to set goals with deadlines attached in your marketing plan. These goals need to be specific and most importantly, attainable.  (For example, you can’t just say “do what needs to be done to increase revenues.” You need to say “Complete these 4 tasks by January 31^st to increase revenue by 10%.”) Special care needs to be used when setting up your goals – you need to fully understand the goals and the tasks associated to reach those goals.

It goes without saying (ok, maybe we are saying it), but you need to hold yourself accountable. At the end of each month, review the pieces of your plan and make sure they are all working.  Marketing is an art, not a science, and if you want to be truly successful, you need to make sure everything is working well and not ignore problems.

At the end of day our recommendation would be to ignore market predictions. Our opinion is that people are overly dramatic about the state of things – they are either GREAT or HORRIBLE, but nothing in between. Try not to pay too much attention to the news, and rather simply focus on what you want to accomplish with your business.  Although the outside world will influence you a bit, when planning, try to keep it ideal to your world.

Coming up next week we will be blogging about the pro’s and con’s of traditional advertising.