4. I Will Ask for Help. We small business owners have trouble delegating. And that makes it hard to accomplish things we either don’t have time to do ourselves or aren’t good at doing. If marketing isn’t your specialty, or if you’re too busy to do it justice, bring in help. Hire an intern, a consultant or a part-time employee.
5. I Will Diversify. You’ve heard what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t do that this year. Instead, aim for a mix of marketing strategies, to include social media, email, content marketing and traditional marketing methods, if appropriate.
6. I Will Learn. Business owners don’t thrive in bubbles. We need inspiration and education from the outside world. Attend conferences. Read books, blogs and magazines. Talk to other business owners to get new ideas.
7. I Will Admit Defeat. If Google Adwords, for example, isn’t bringing you the ROI you want, cut it from your plan. Move on to something else. Admit when a strategy isn’t working for your business so you can cut your losses and move forward.
8. I Will Pay Attention to Analytics. If you’re not a numbers person, you might be tempted to ignore things like web traffic analytics and sales data. But this is the gold: it tells you which of your efforts are working, and helps you tailor your marketing plan to better bring in more customers.
9. I Will Shoot for the Stars. It’s easy to get complacent if you’re making a comfortable living. And not all of us want to be billionaires. But it’s still a good idea to set your sights a little higher so that you push yourself and your company to do better. Even if you only hit a low star, you’ve made progress from last year.
10. I Will Keep My Goals Handy. Once you create your resolutions, don’t stick them in a drawer or folder on your desktop. Print them and keep them out where you can read them regularly. This will help you keep them in mind as you run your business, which will help you achieve them.
Photo: Sukanto Debnath on Flickr
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