Planning Your Companys Internet Marketing Future: 2010 Recap and 2011 Strategy
As 2010 winds down to its last week, I can’t help but go back and look at my 2009 recap and 2010 outlook. Boy did it look bleak…the economy was in a rut, clients were cutting back on everything—including their marketing budgets.
Really, marketing should be the last thing you choose to downsize—after all, isn’t Marketing helping your business stay afloat and driving more sales? (But that is a subject to be covered on another day.)
Nonetheless, since many customers were scaling back, we went into 2010 making a conscious decision to concentrate on our current customers and introduce more innovation and marketing strategies to drive more customers to their websites and businesses.
Well the strategy worked.
On average, all of our customers grew their customer base by a margin of 25% to 45%, and one of our customers grew their online visitor and reservation numbers by 100%.
Imagine doubling your call rates in a matter of 12 months—well word travels fast and Trimark was able to pull out one of its best years yet.
Now looking back on 2010, I’m thinking about how our readers, customers, friends and family take advantage of our strategy and apply it to themselves. Simplifying the concept, here are couple of bullet points that will help you with your own 2011 strategy.
- Review: Go back and look at what happened throughout the year. I have a document on my desktop that I use to jot down quick notes about memorable events, success milestones and challenges that took place throughout the year. Be sure to include dates and reference points.
- Categorize: To make sense of it all, put your reference points into categories such as success stories, challenges, opportunities and the like. Figure out what led to the success, or what you learned from the challenges and how you can avoid repeating the pitfalls.
- Plan: Now that you have everything categorized, institute a plan of action. I divide mine up into yearly (overall), quarterly, and monthly plans. If you have employees or departments that you are in charge of, have them put a plan together also, and incorporate it into your master plan.
- Take Action: Plans without actions are worthless. Put a couple of your plans into action first thing in January, no matter how small or “insignificant” it seems to the master plan. It will get you in the right frame of mind, and it will show your employees that you are moving forward.
- Track and Amend: Track your progress, remember the document on your desktop, and share success stories with your employees. If they feel like a part of the process, it will make your job much easier. Amend your plans as you move forward.
Stick with it and you will see the difference—this needs to be part of your weekly if not daily routine.
For more informative articles and tips, please visit our blog at trimarkfirm.com/marketingblog