With the final month of the year upon us, small businesses (as well as larger organizations) the world over is reviewing the past and looking towards the future.
Once you have a solid idea of how your company performed through the first 11 months of the year, it is time to turn your attention to 2015. By making a few key changes now, you will be able to hit the ground running in January.
Here are three ways to review and alter your marketing plan for the new year:
Determine what did and did not work. Did you have success with social media and corporate blogging? Did you fall short in terms of direct mail? Your goal is to know exactly what worked in 2014 so you can adjust your approach in the new year.
The last thing you want to do is stick with a marketing plan that did not yield positive results. If you make this mistake, you could find yourself spending more time and money in 2015.
Follow recent trends. What worked in the past may not necessarily work in the future. And what works in the future may have had no chance of working in the past.
For example, a growing number of companies are taking advantage of mobile marketing. This is a trend that can put your business on the path to bigger and better things.
Keep a beat on recent trends as well as what others in your industry are doing to achieve success. You never know when you will come across a change that can be easily implemented into your marketing strategy.
Give yourself more than one option. If you put all your eggs in one basket and things do not work out as you had hoped, you will need to do a 180 in order to get back on track. Rather than take this risk, create a well balanced marketing plan that allows you to take off in a number of different directions on a moment's notice.
With one month left in 2014, the new year will be here before you know what hit you. Once the holiday season comes and goes, it is back to business as usual. When you make the necessary changes to your marketing plan right now, you will not have to waste time, energy, and resources on this when 2015 arrives. Instead, you can move forward full steam ahead without delay.
