The most important simple question to ask yourself when creating your marketing strategy for the New Year is “How can I do better?” This simple question should get your creative juices flowing. (So have a notebook handy.) There are many ways to do better and here are some to help you get started.

Re-evaluate Your Customers Demographics And Psychographics.

Many companies promote their goods and services in the wrong places to the wrong people. By understanding exactly who your customer is will allow you to laser focus your marketing and in addition to making the cash register ring it will save you money. There are tools available that make this process easy.

Re-evaluate All Of Your Offerings.

Look at your products or services. Is there anything that can be changed or added to make the offer outstanding? A money back guarantee? Offering premiums with the sale? Make it impossible for your customers to say no. Lower or if possible, remove all of the risk associated with buying from you. Use a professional copy writer to create compelling irresistible copy.

Freshen Up Your USP.

Look over your Unique Selling Proposition. Are you still unique? Does your USP kill the competition in a sentence or two? If not then it’s time to change.

Set A Flexible Budget.

There are many things to consider when creating a marketing budget. And using the old figure of 2 – 10% for ongoing marketing is just a rule of thumb. Consider everything that worked and did not work last year as well as how many new sales you wish to make this year, etc. Being flexible is also important as when you see a marketing tactic working it’s a good idea to tweak it and then put more money and time into it.

The famous saying “The evidence unmistakably indicates that you have to spend money in order to make money.” – Srully Blotnic is absolutely true. But I say “You have to spend money in the right places at the right time to the right customer to make a lot of money!”

Jump Into Digital Marketing.

You should use a combination of traditional and digital marketing and advertising. But now with modern technology there many digital cost effective solutions available.

For example: Do you only use a printed brochure? Why not create a multimedia PDF? Are you using letters of testimonials? You should use video on your website to supplement them. Are you taking advantage of the Mobile web? If you are sending letters to prospects did you ever think about scientific strategic, demographic and psychographic (There is that word again.) email marketing? Advertising in the newspaper? How about a targeted search engine Pay Per Click or a Facebook or LinkedIn campaign? Going to networking events? How about using social media to network effectively? The list is truly endless.

Do Something That Scares You!

Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the definition of insanity. (Sorry but I went there.) This also applies to how you market and where you advertise. Change it up. Don’t be afraid to do something that will scare you. Take a calculated risk. Stop blending in! The good news is that most of your competitors do the same thing as well, always in the same coupon magazine, newspaper or radio or TV spot. Boring! Take them by surprise. You want to get your customers to act and using exciting creative Advertising and marketing will do that.

Fortes fortuna adiuvat – Fortune favors the bold!

Keep these things in mind when creating your New Year marketing strategy. If you need some “no sales pitch” help or ideas just give us a call or use our contact form.

You Will Have a Happy, Healthy and Profitable New Year!

As always your comments are welcome and appreciated.