Part 2: 12 New Year’s Resolutions: Marketing Commitments for a Successful Year

When budgets were drastically reduced last year, many companies chaotically implemented their marketing programs or didn’t follow through on planned events. Marketing is only successful when your efforts are consistent. For example, don’t just place an advertisement once and expect great results. You’ll need to place that same ad several times in the same journal in order for it to be effective. Another example…don’t send out one press release and expect positive results. In other words, don’t just do one thing once and expect great results. I hear it all the time. “I tried that once and it didn’t work.” Whenever I hear that statement I know it was due to an inconsistency problem … and not the fact that the marketing efforts didn’t work. Consistency is the name of the game. On the other hand, doing the same tactic over and over again just because “we’ve always done it that way” is not a good idea either. That’s the definition of insanity… that is, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Which, takes us to the next resolution.

There is really no excuse to not have measurement tools in place these days. Now with Google Analytics and other such tools, it is much easier to measure your online marketing campaigns. You also have tools such as Marketo and other lead nurturing tools you can keep track of your prospects’ interests. You can see how much traffic you generated to your website before and after a campaign and compare the results. Data mining software is also readily available which allows you to capture important information about your prospects.

Do you really know who your competitors are and what they are selling? Try to gain competitive intelligence through various industry-sponsored marketing research. If you have the budget, hire a marketing research expert to conduct a customized research project for you. There are a few companies out there who can do smaller research projects for under $5,000. It may be worth the money and the time to budget for this type of research. Not only will it help you with your product development efforts but it also can help you position your products in the marketplace. The end result is it will help you clearly articulate your branding message to your customers and prospects.

Are you getting the most out of your trade shows? So many companies just set up their booth and wing it and hope that customers will show up and be curious about their products. To really get the most out of this tactic, you need to promote your attendance using several types of communications media. First of all, send out an e-blast to all of your customers who will likely attend the show and let them know your booth number and what you will be showing. Purchase the pre-show registration list and send out a direct mailer with a coupon redeemable for something of value to your audience when they visit your booth. And, don’t forget a press kit. Many of the technical trade shows now encourage the trade press to attend and cover their conference.

We get so involved in chasing new prospects that we sometimes forget about our existing customer base. It is far easier to sell to someone who has already purchased from you and who likes your products than to sell to someone who doesn’t know anything about you. They’ll tell someone, and they’ll tell someone, and so on, and so on, and so on. This is called viral marketing, word-of-mouth marketing or referral marketing. It’s the best way to gain new customers. One great way to stay in touch with existing customers is through eNewsletters. They are very easy to produce and now there are many outsourced companies like Constant Contact who can help you with newsletter templates and maintain your subscribers’ list. Commit to sending out at least one eNewsletter per month. This could be in conjunction with a trade show, a new product announcement, or a special event.

I know I talk a lot about online marketing tactics and social media, but don’t forget about some of the traditional ways to market your company. At the very least your company needs a high-quality company overview brochure and then follow-on product brochures. If you offer a lot of products, you may want to produce a complete catalog so that purchasing agents can easily order your products. But, don’t forget to add e-commerce to your website to make it easy for customers to order. By digitizing your catalog and uploading it to your website, you can save hundreds of dollars on printing costs. Meld the new technology with the old. Marketing is marketing but we now have new methodologies and media to get the message to our targeted audiences. It’s all about how you present your company, creating a consistent message, and consistently delivering that message to your audience.

So, commit to just a few of these resolutions the coming year and you’ll have a successful 2012.

Sheila T. Brann is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, business owner, and marketing coach. She specializes in Marketing and Strategic Planning and has over 20 years of business-to-business marketing experience. She is the Founder and President of KIWI Communications, Inc., a full-service marketing, advertising, public relations, and social media consulting firm that specializes in the biotech, life sciences, medical device, and high-tech industries.