Small business owners are in the trenches daily fighting for survival under tough economic conditions. The common issues include personnel, production, performance, cash flow, credit and collections. And that's BEFORE the door opens for business. But somewhere on the long "To Do" list is MARKETING. Some call it sales or advertising, but in the small business the lines are blurred where one ends and the other begins. But we know that good marketing creates sales and advertising is made more effective by good marketing.
As we approach the close of the first quarter of 2010, I thought I'd address some Marketing Resolutions for 2010. I waited until now so they wouldn't get lost among all the other New Year resolutions that have already been broken and it also allowed the reality of 2010 to sink in. Since 2009 was such a lousy year for many small businesses, just surviving into 2010 was a victory. So here we are with the first quarter winding down, where do you stand? Is it better than 2009? Have you implemented new strategies? If the answers are "YES", then good for you. Please share you success story. I'd love to interview you and post it here.
Here are some of my personal resolutions in no particular order. You will see that some of these will never have a completion point because I believe I can always improve. As a small business owner you understand that the mere fact we call it a list means it never ends.
10 Marketing Resolutions
- Focus the entire staff on building the email list.
- Create segmented/highly targeted email newsletters instead of one-size-fits-all.
- Start regular email campaigns.
- Find out college or professional sports team preferences of key customers.
- No mass mailings allowed. Only highly targeted, purposeful direct mail.
- Push creativity to the very edge. Find out where the out of bounds stakes are.
- Engage in social media to create conversations, inform and educate.
- Remove geographical boundaries and increase online business revenues.
- Start doing video (even though I have a face for radio).
- Write an e-book or white paper for downloading.
For the record, I have started on many of these. In reality, it's unlikely that I will accomplish 100% of them by year end. What if I only accomplish five of them? If I do those five extremely well, 2010 will not only see better revenues, but key customer relationships will be nurtured as well.
What are your business resolutions? Any priorities? Any success stories?
Advantage Printing is a commercial print and marketing service provider serving churches, nonprofits and small to mid-sized businesses.
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidamoore
David A. Moore
Comments