Ready, Set, Go! 2013 is Underway.

In one of our last posts of 2012, we talked about what marketing tactics could still be implemented even while people were in and out of the office. Now that 2013 is underway, we want to address the best practices of starting off a fresh and new year!
While your first instinct may be to jump right into a new planning stage, there are a few other things that you should take advantage of with your clean slate.

The beginning of the year is a great time for reflection. Even if your marketing campaign is right in the middle of its life-cycle, you should still use the first few weeks of January to look back on your past execution and analyze. What worked? What didn’t work? What needs some editing? Now is not only a great time to get things organized, but to review and optimize your marketing efforts. Reflect on the goals of 2012, both met and unmet, to see what you can do now to have the best 2013 possible.

Do some research. Now is a good time to research trending topics and where marketing is headed in 2013. Try to come up with new and effective ways to market. Keep up with growing industries and methods that are sure to rattle the cages this year. For example, mobile advertising is making huge moves within the industry because of the commitment people have to their smartphones. Maybe this is the year to finally get immersed in that social media marketing that you’ve been avoiding, or hire a web developer to optimize your website for mobile forums. Either way, there are moves to be made or things to be done that will take your efforts even farther this year.

Optimize! Did you start a blog in 2012? Awesome. Did you redo your website? Even more awesome! So… now what? Why don’t you make a business-new-year’s-resolution to do bigger and better things with what you have already put into place! Vow to actually utilize your blog to generate some leads, or vow to really invest some time and effort into SEO to get people to actually SEE your website. Make a list of every big marketing move you made in 2012 and expand on each one. I guarantee you can go deeper and wider within each tactic and expand that to be a better tool for you in 2013.

Give even more thought to your sales team. What good is all of this optimization and marketing commitment if you don’t have the backing of your sales team? Answer: It’s not good, and it’s not going to do anything for you. Talk to your sales team and find out what kinds of prospects they’ve been targeting, what solutions the sales manager is pushing for them to be selling, and what their goals and objectives are for 2013. If the SVP of sales wants to blow Managed Services sales out of the water this year, then it’s probably a good idea for you to help them out and align your marketing efforts with their goals. If you are generating leads that will help them reach their numbers faster, that is the best possible situation you could ask for.

Happy New Year… ready, set, market!

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