Marketing Resolutions for 2011 – the Top 10

At the start of the New Year our thoughts turn to resolutions. Over the last three weeks I’ve been canvassing the views of everyone I’ve met – clients, suppliers and business contacts, for their marketing resolutions for 2011. There have been some obvious ones, some interesting ideas and some unusual adaptations of the usual marketing themes but I felt all were worthwhile so here’s my attempt to summarise what I’ve heard into a top 10.

Resolution 1 – Create time to think and to action marketing ideas. Listening to clients over the last ten years I think this is the one thing business owners really struggle with. It’s hard to dedicate enough quality thinking time to marketing and then even more difficult to commit to implementing the marketing ideas. As it was put by one of my contacts it’s really important to ‘get focused on implementing one or two ideas, rather than having loads of ideas and doing nothing about them’.

Are you setting aside quality time to plan and implement marketing ideas?

Resolution 2 – Make a bid to turn customers into clients. This is an interesting concept and feeds into the whole arena of customer service and client care, something mentioned by lots of people I spoke to. The person making this resolution talked about his desire to move customers (single purchase, transactional with no strong relationship) to clients (tied into a mutually beneficial relationship with repeat purchases).

Is this resolution relevant to your business and if so how can you convert your customers into clients?

Resolution 3 – Focus on the ‘pains’ being faced by clients and innovate to alleviate these pains. This is a great resolution because it means creating a new product or service that you know clients need. It’s a big resolution though and I suggest if new product development is one of yours you try chunking it down into series of smaller steps, otherwise there’s a danger you never quite get started on what looks like a massive project. You might start with some internal brainstorming, followed by in depth discussions with customers to find out what their biggest challenges are and start to map out how you can help.

Do your plans for new products or services alleviate pains?

Resolution 4 – Get everyone in the business involved in marketing or give everyone a marketing brief. Wow – this one sounds ambitious but I think what was meant, was to make sure everyone is meeting brand promises (which of course means they firstly need to know what those promises are), that they all understand the business goals and their role in helping to fulfil them, and that they are given an opportunity to contribute their ideas that will be listened to.

What opportunities can you create to get everyone in your business involved in marketing?

Resolution 5 – Do more networking, network regularly, target my networking more effectively. These were common themes for many people, especially for accountants, solicitors, consultants and coaches. These individuals were recognising that people buy from people and that by having a wide, well developed network they can simultaneously spread the word and have an opportunity to develop effective business relationships.

Are you using your network effectively?

Resolution 6 – Blog regularly, or in some cases it was to start blogging. Many people mentioned this – especially the promises they were making to themselves to blog once a week, every day or on particular topics. The issue seems to be the same for all of them – it’s about having a plan. Firstly deciding what to write about and how to stimulate regular ideas, then it’s about setting aside time to do it or maybe briefing someone else to do it on their behalf. Either way the key is in getting down to action.

If blogging is on your agenda do you have a clear plan for getting the most from what your write?

Resolution 7 – Try Twitter. This one frightens me a little, not because I don’t see a value in Twitter and other forms of online social media, but I do worry that people can waste a lot of time with Twitter (or Linked In, Ecademy, Facebook and others) if they don’t have a strategy. In a recent survey, 50% of British businesses using Twitter said they had no specific social media strategy and I would guess amongst smaller businesses the percentage might be even higher. As with any communications tool, Twitter needs consideration in terms of who you are trying to reach, what you want to communicate, how frequently and who will be responsible for making it happen.

Do you have a social media plan for 2011?

Resolution 8 – Get an independent view of marketing activities already undertaken. As you can imagine, being a marketing consultant this was music to my ears! But seriously – anyone can be asked to give a view of things like how your business comes across when people call you, what people think of your website, how clear they are on what you offer and what makes you different. The secret here is to listen with an open mind to the feedback they give and try to avoid being defensive. You don’t have to fully agree with their views but you are bound to learn something from an independent review.

When was the last time your marketing communications activities were reviewed?

Resolution 9 – Commit to improving customer service, or as one person put it ‘add value to your customer’s experience in 2011’. What a great ambition for a business – to give more to the customer. I always think that when it comes to customer service you need to start with a recognition of what you’re good at, and to build on that. But you also need to explore the areas where you are failing and put things right. Once you’ve got the basics right then you can start to add value.

How will you add more value to customers this year?

Resolution 10 – Keep in touch with customers and prospects on a regular basis. Most people were talking about doing this electronically, with email newsletters and targeting e-shots. Many of the other things mentioned (like Twitter and Blogs) provide an opportunity to keep in touch but of course in the case of social media the recipient is the one in charge of what they receive and when. By maintaining a database of clients, prospects and contacts you put yourself in the driving seat of being able to reach them. Of course you need to make your communications appealing and relevant, which means understanding their needs in depth, and being prepared to reign in your sales message at times to focus more on them and their business, rather than your product or service.

What are your plans for ‘keeping in touch’?

Of course this isn’t an exhaustive list of marketing resolutions for 2011, there were many more variations on these themes. But the most common factor that pretty much everyone mentioned was to put plans or thought into action. Many people mentioned their sense of failure because they’d promised themselves they would change their marketing in 2010, but never quite got around to it.

So if there’s one lesson I’d like to share from everyone I spoke to, it’s to get out there and get on with it. As Nike say ‘ Just do it’, or as one of my clients likes to say – JFDI – I’ll let you decide what the initials stand for!

Until next time – enjoy putting your marketing plans into action.


Further reading:

Ten questions to help you develop a marketing plan

Using a coach to improve marketing results

As a marketing coach Teresa works with new marketing managers and small business owners to enhance their marketing performance.

Contact Teresa on 01789 740396 or by email.

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©Second Opinion Marketing 2011. All rights reserved.

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Written by Teresa Harris, Second Opinion Marketing. Teresa is an independent marketing consultant working with professional practices, small businesses and public sector bodies to develop effective marketing plans which achieve their business objectives.


©2011 Second Opinion Marketing. All Rights Reserved.