10 Jan 5 Marketing Resolutions for the New Year
It’s officially 2014, and instead of sitting around, watching glumly as torrential rain streaks past your window, it’s time to get proactive and make some resolutions. Not just the usual resolutions about resisting that cheeky bacon roll on the way to work, switching your 12 daily coffees to herbal teas and getting up to go jogging at dawn that, let’s face it, you’ll never keep. This January, it’s time to make some marketing resolutions that you can actually stick to.
1. Re-think blogging
2013 was the year that everyone and their mum became a super blogger, so you can be forgiven for being a little disillusioned with the medium. But blogging is a great way to generate shareable, engaging content that can build a brand identity, showcase an expert viewpoint and provide information to your readers. And best of all, it’s free!
Don’t set unrealistic goals, like hammering out a daily blog, but resolve to create regular posts full of quality content that tell the story of your brand or company.
2. Get connected on social media
No doubt you have a company account for more social media platforms than you can shake a stick at. But do you use all of them? 2014 is the year to have a good think about which social media platforms are right for your brand and then put that little bit of extra effort into the ones that make the cut.
Don’t be afraid to ignore the platforms that aren’t suitable for you; not every company will benefit from the likes of Instagram and Vine. Instead of signing up and letting the account sit dormant, resolve to get more connected with the social media platforms that have the biggest impact. Get Pinning, Tweeting and posting on Facebook, making and sharing content for your followers.
3. Reach out
Now that you’ve worked out what you can get out of social media, make sure you’re giving something back, too. One of the biggest benefits of social media for marketers is the new level of connection with consumers it provides. So don’t fall into the trap of churning out only your own content; reach out to your followers and peers by starting conversations and replying to their enquiries.
Who knows, by the end of 2014 you may even be hosting your own hashtagged Twitter chat.
4. Have a cohesive plan
The beginning of a new year is always a good opportunity to stop and take stock of your marketing goals to ensure that you’re moving in the right direction. The past few years have been a flurry of new developments and information and it can be difficult to get a grip on all the fluctuating marketing trends whilst staying true to your own business plans.
Resolve to set out a cohesive plan for all your marketing activities, from press releases to Tweets, aligning them across all platforms to ensure you meet your goals.
5. Give your website a boost
Whilst for some the new year may mean time for a much needed website overhaul, for others it’s simply a great opportunity to give your website a boost with some fresh content, new images and while you’re at it, maybe add something new to the design, such as a social media feed.
Finally, strengthen your content with key words and ensure that you’ve added meta tags wherever possible on your website, including images, for search engine optimisation. Learn more about SEO here. It will give you a much better chance of being heard amongst the huge amount of noise on the Internet.
There we go, 5 simple resolutions to make sure 2014 is another great marketing year.