3 Ways to Use Holiday Clarity to Challenge & Improve 2011 Marketing Strategies

As the eggnog flowed over the holidays, many of us took the opportunity to give our brains a much-needed rest, enjoying time with family and friends.  Now that we’re back at our desks, it’s time to put our rested and restored professional mindsets to work.

You probably wrote your 2011 marketing strategies and plans amidst pressing deadlines and around multiple meetings and activities.  How about a gut-check, before the daily grind truly kicks in for the year?

Here are three questions that will help you to leverage your “holiday clarity” to its fullest, in your marketing strategy planning:

1. Are your goals ambitious enough?  As we roll out of one of the most prolonged recessions of modern times, it’s important to make sure marketing plans are back in growth mode, not survival mode as many have been for a few years.  Does your marketing plan strive to ensure the best possible positioning for your company as the economy turns around?  Before jumping into the day-to-day activities of realizing your goals, this is the perfect time of year to fine-tune your strategy.
2. Are your tactics fresh enough to meet new challenges?  Are there activities you planned for this year that are in the plan because “they’ve always been there”?  Are they really strategic for achieving the ROI you look for this year?  Consider new channels, and ideas for achieving your goals. At the beginning of the year, you have time to explore new ways to innovate.  This year, those new ideas may come in the form of social media activities, regardless of where your firm is on the engagement ladder.  Or you can also go a different route, and resurrect old “tried and true” tactics that fell by the wayside due to lack of funding during the recession, but that could be given new life with a 2011 spin.
3. Do you have the resources you need?  If you’re pushing the envelope with new tactical ideas for reaching more ambitious goals, chances are you may need to make the case for additional resources.  This is the time to make sure you don’t take everything onto your own shoulders:  if you’ve been asked to achieve more, budgets should reflect that change as well.

Last year around this time, I blogged about Clearing the Clutter from corporate messaging.  This year, make sure that you give your own internal planning the same housekeeping treatment that you give your external messaging.  Challenging your own thinking can be – well, challenging – but worth it, to set your programs up for success in 2011.

Happy New Year!

To contact Margy Sweeney:

Phone:  312-252-7314
Email: margy@blisspr.com
Twitter: @margysweeney
LinkedIn: Margy Sweeney