It is the time of year that we receive a whole lot of inquiries from local companies about what they can do to be better in 2014. We are looking at their marketing spends for the past 12 months and we see the evaluation end at what was spent. Why aren't you comparing that against what was earned and how that business came to be?

Putting on your thinking cap

An important part of the marketing game is understanding where you and spending your money and why. You are in an awesome position to evaluate that today. The year just ended, this is the perfect opportunity to assess your efforts and see what they returned to your business. When you consider your buyer personas (more on that here) you should be able to put each facet of your strategy into a persona bucket. So if you did $8500 in magazines, who exactly were you sending those messages to? When you evaluate your marketing this way you will start to see where you did great and where you misstepped in your overall strategy. 

Check out your web traffic

Google Analytics is a free tool that you can use to track the traffic on your website. This tool will help you figure out what your audience is actually looking for. We chatted about why you shouldn't build the website if your dreams in a blog post last year (read that here) and we meant it! Your website should be tailored to the audience that is visiting it. Do you really want to spend all of your advertising dollars on the elements of your business that are not generating you leads? Of course not. Save that for the upsell. Get the leads first and show them what you can do for them once you've gotten their attention. 

Check out the competition

Are you being beat at your own game? It happens. Do check out what your competitors are doing and make sure that you never duplicate any of it. Be original, fresh, interesting and give the audience something new. Is your website performing well yet? You can get a snapshot of the competition vs. your company by filling out the info here. This will let you know where you need to improve and how you can adapt your methods to be the best in the marketplace. 

Own your errors

This is one of the biggest obstacles we see with business owners. What worked before doesn't work anymore. Period. Business has changed and you want to change with it, don't be left in the dark ages. We are not suggesting you throw all of your past strategies by the wayside, but instead adjust your spend to reflect the changing marketplace for marketing impact. Open your mind to the potential of honesty economy (more on that here) and get real with the people you want to be doing business with. 

The great news is that you have a brand new year ahead of you and you are reading this blog, so you know that you are on the path to positive change. Now keep it up and put a blog on your website to get the content rolling in 2014!"