For most small businesses and professionals it’s time to take stock and think about where to focus your marketing effort and investment in the future. And during the Christmas break it’s a good time to step outside your business for a moment and try to see things from the customer point of view. Even large business will benefit from the opportunity to pause and review following the simple steps suggested here.

What’s Worked and What Hasn’t?
A good starting point might be to make a simple list (or review your plan, if you have one) of all the marketing activities you’ve been involved in during 2003. Don’t miss anything out. Think about press releases or newspaper coverage you may have had; advertising and sponsorship; leaflets you produced and distributed; direct mail; your website and other on-line advertising and promotions, partnerships you built and networking events you attended.

You may end up with quite a long list. Which brings me to the first point I suppose – has your marketing activity been focussed enough and have you got the best results?

Measuring Success
Think about how much you spent on each activity and review the actual amount of response or business each activity generated – what do you mean you didn’t measure it! If this is true you won’t be alone but now might be a good time to put it right.

Point two and learning for 2004 – make sure you can measure the effectiveness of all advertising and marketing that you do – and if you want to be ruthless about it - if you can’t measure it don’t do it. Most small businesses I’ve worked with can find a simple system for monitoring response (whether they use their accounts system or set up a more sophisticated database) and they quickly realise the effort in putting in the system has been well worth it when they realise the thing that cost the most has been producing the worst results and some of the things that cost very little can really reap rewards.

This final point deserves explanation. I came across a business recently who used one name on their website and for on-line trading activities, and a completely different name (and branding) off-line. Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that if they are run as separate businesses and the customer only ever sees one of the companies – but this wasn’t the case. On-line orders to company A were fulfilled with stationary from company B. At the end of the day a customer wasn’t sure whom they’d bought from - which doesn’t bode well for a long-term relationship with either company.

In reviewing your image you should be looking for consistency. Are you saying the same things, in the same way? Do you use the same or similar images (on your website and in your brochures) – or could these items come out of two different businesses. Do you have a company logo, and is this used consistently on everything you produce? Getting the little things right are important, like using a consistent typeface or font, using a specific colour or colour palette and repeating recognisable images.

Without an element of consistency you won’t be building awareness and familiarity – instead each time you contact someone new you’ll be starting from scratch. This wastes time and money. Get it right and you can benefit from instant recognition, which will make your overall marketing and sales efforts more successful. People buy from people they know.

For details of how you can get an independent review of your business image click here.

I hope that’s given you a few ideas to think about when you’re fed up with mince pies and The Wizard of Oz. I hope you have relaxing Christmas break but find time to plan for a prosperous New Year.

Subscribe to Practical Marketing and receive articles like this one free to your in box.

For more ideas, tips and articles click here.

Useful link

Chartered Institute of Marketing