28 Dec Starting the New Year Off The Right Way

Well 2011 is winding down and 2012 is upon us. This is the time of year that business owners and managers should look back and decide, “What things did I do right?” and “What things did I not do right?” While I’m sure a few wrongdoings will leap out at you immediately, this typically isn’t something that you can just spend a few minutes thinking about. Set aside some time, review your business plan, and really put some thought and effort into this. Write down the pitfalls that you want to avoid for the new year and put it in your business plan so you won’t make the same mistakes again. With a little planning, you can make 2012 much better than 2011. I know there are still an untold number of economic issues happening right now, but there is still enough spending going on to get a fair share of the market. Business owners just have to market effectively and find the right communication methods to reach their potential customers. Not only do you have to reach your potential customers the right way, but you have to offer them something of value. Marketing with promotional products is a great way to reach people. After all, everyone loves free stuff, right? I know I do, if the “stuff” is useful to me. If I get junk that is not useful to me, it hits the trash right away. When creating your marketing plan, here are a few key points to identify:

1. Who is my target audience?
2. What is the preferred method of communication for my targeted audience?
3. What type of promotional products would they use on a daily basis?
4. What type of products or services that I sell would be beneficial to them?
5. What type of price range fits my targeted audience?

In many cases, you may service customers of all age ranges. If that is case, you may need a plan to reach each age bracket. For example, a teen audience is going to respond much better to text messaging and Facebook whereas Senior citizens would not be good candidates (as a whole) to use text message marketing. If you will take the time to identify these few key points, your marketing tactics will become much more effective and hopefully you will start off 2012 the right way.