While you and your fellow marketing professionals undoubtedly have made some personal New Year’s resolutions, what about your company? Here are five ways to inaugurate 2015.
Consider and confirm your metrics
If you were only judged on one goal in 2015, what would it be? It could be cost savings, customer retention, customer acquisition, time spent on site – every organization has different requirements and different expectations from its marketing department. Once you know what your main goal is, ask yourself if you’re wisely measuring success. Having the right metrics measured is like having the right map. Looking at others won’t get you anywhere. Also make sure you’re reviewing metrics in a reasonable timeframe. Once every five minutes is a bit aggressive; once a month doesn’t give you insights quick enough to make real-time decisions.
Establish an A/B testing strategy
While the quickest route to this is to actually license a technology platform that enables A/B testing, you can begin by better understanding what outputs you have in your marketing strategy and how you can best establish the practice of testing different outcomes. Try different subject lines, different calls to actions on Tweets, and other options. And if you have your analytics set, it will be easier to track which is performing better and move from there.
Bring in existing & new vendors
You may be very happy with your current service providers, but it’s never a bad moment to ensure you a) are getting the most out of your current relationships and b) are aware of any competing software that could supercharge your marketing in 2015. If you have a good team, you can divide and conquer so that your first 60 days are not completely filled with meetings.
Make this the year you extend social throughout the organization
We have discussed the need for companies to better spread social competency and reach throughout all facets of the organization. It’s also something we hear from readers consistently. There is no better time than now to explore how to bring this to life in your organization. Find colleagues in different departments that you know have expressed interest in learning more about social or are talking about hiring an expert for their team. Produce a steering committee that explores exactly how social should exist within your company in the next two-ten years.
Do something radical
Do you have some blue-sky ideas that were discussed last year? Can any be credibly implemented this year? Does it still have value? Get your team together and create a roadmap to get a big and bold project up and running before winter thaws. Set the tone early; make this the year that you get a big idea off the ground.
