Organizing Your Marketing for the New Year

The New Year typically brings on new resolutions and goals both personally as well as for our business.  But as with any goal, in order to stick with it and achieve it, we must have a plan in mind.  According to SmartSimple Marketing, the first step in making a plan is to de-clutter and organize our mind.  We need to focus and get pass our mental blocks and clearly define our goals, what we want the end result to be, and what action steps are needed to achieve our goals.

The new year brings on the opportunity to get rid of the old and begin the new, i.e. new goals, new plan, new actions, new thought process.  Reviewing what worked, what didn’t work, where improvements are needed and what new ideas and strategies we need to put in place.  Get rid of the notion, well I tried that and it didn’t work.  Sometimes it’s not that it didn’t work, maybe we didn’t implement correctly and with a little tweaking, it becomes a great idea/strategy/action.

One of the things I tell my clients is, you have to be persistent and consistent.  Oftentimes I see business owners try something new, but because it didn’t have instant results, the idea/action was dropped and they were on to something else or gave up all together.  Relationship marketing takes time.  Yes, sometimes there is ‘Love at First Sight,’ but it’s rare.  Relationships whether personal or business take time.  It takes time to get to know, like, and trust someone before you refer to them or buy from them.  In being persistent and consistent in our marketing, we are saying to our clients as well as our prospects that we are reliable and trustworthy.  That we are going to be around awhile. 

One of the best ways to get organized with our marketing is to write everything down, especially if we have a million ideas running through our mind.  Make a list of ideas, evaluate how much time and money each with take.  Whether you can do it yourself, or would it make more sense to outsource.  Keep all ideas in one place and as you take action, record the results, i.e. what worked, what didn’t, etc.  Does the idea/action need more time, does it need to be changed, tweaked, etc.  Remember the saying the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same actions over and over and expecting different results. 

Now is a good time to devise a marketing plan for the year. 

Here are some ideas to consider.  These can be used for social media, blogs, newsletters, special offers, etc.

• Depending on your business, you might think about a theme a month.  Refer to an online calendar like Brownielocks.com  to find ideas that are appropriate for your business.  For example:  January is ‘Get Organized Month.’

• Write down all your ideas and organize as appropriate.  Use a notebook and/or online document like Evernote, but keep everything together in one place in order to reference when needed.

• Go ahead and research and write your content for your blogs and newsletters.  Oftentimes when I start writing about one subject, several others seem to spawn.  Rather than trying to do a brain dump with one article, divide the material into smaller ‘bite size’ pieces.  If you’re doing video, 3 to 5 minute segments are suggested.  Same with written articles.

• Schedule posts to social media when possible.  Link social media accounts to cut down on time spent posting.  There are also social media scheduling tools where all social media posting can be done from one place, i.e. Hootsuite, Buffer, SocialOomph, etc. 

• Be prepared to be flexible.  You may have something come up that is more relevant.  Something may happen or be trending in the news that triggers an idea.  Adjust your plan and actions accordingly.

• Track your progress and results against your plan, re-evaluate and keep moving forward being persistent and consistent.

How do we achieve our resolutions and goals? 

-        - Get organized

-        - Make a Plan

-        - Take Action

-        - Be Persistent and Consistent

-        - Be Flexible

-        - Track our results

-        - Rinse and Repeat

      We would love to hear about your plans for marketing for the new year.  Your feedback and comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy Marketing,

Annette

Virtual Assistant

Painted Lady Enterprises

Staying on Track - Reaching Goals – Achieving Resolutions

Well its one week into the New Year.  Did you make some New Year’s resolutions?  Goals?  For yourself?  For your business?  So how are you doing?  What is your track record?  How many goals and/or resolutions did you put on your list that are repeats?  That you either abandoned or didn’t quite attain last year?  Or are you one of the ones that just quit making resolutions and goals?

Lots of questions, I know, but if we keep putting the same goals and resolutions on our list year after year, then it poses the question to ask why.  Why aren’t we reaching these goals?  Is it that important to us?  It must be or we wouldn’t keep putting them on the list time after time, year after year.  Do we lack the skill set?  Hmmm….maybe, maybe not.  If we have the skill set, then do we lack the time?

I had a conversation this past week with a business acquaintance and she talked about ‘staffing for your weaknesses.’  This got me to thinking about why goals and resolutions don’t get achieved, but yet we keep saying we want to reach/achieve said goals and/or resolutions.  Which brings up more questions.

·        Is it really important to us – Will it make us happier, healthier, wealthier if achieved?

·        Do we have the skill set – if not, then why not seek out the expertise needed.  This might be in the areas of our health, diet and/or exercise.  Why not hire a personal trainer and/or a nutritionist, the expertise needed to finally achieve the results wanted.

·        If we have the skill set – is it a strength?  Sometimes we may have the skill set, but it is not a strength or we had rather do something else.  For example:  We may want to get a handle on our finances, profit and loss, etc. for our business.  We know how to do all of this, but it’s not one of our strengths or we just don’t enjoy doing this type of work.  Outsource the work.  Hire a bookkeeper or an accountant who can track the information and provide an analysis.

·        Do we lack the time – or not making the time to put forth the effort?  If it is something someone else can do – outsource it.  For example:  I can and know how to clean my house, but I don’t like to do it so therefore it takes me 3 times as long as it does for the person I have who does it for me.  I had rather be on my computer creating an email marketing newsletter for my clients or setting up clients social media sites.   I enjoy doing that.  So, find the expertise who can do the tasks you don’t have time or don’t want to do yourself.

There are certain aspects of our life and business we like and enjoy doing and we are good at them.  And then there are other things that we may can do, but it’s not a strength and/or we don’t enjoy it.  So comes the question, would we be better off outsourcing the task, hiring the expertise, or it is just something we just have to buckle down and do ourselves.  These are the questions that each of us have to answer and figure out.  My advice is to focus on your strengths, what you enjoy and outsource what you can.  That way you free up the time to concentrate and devote the time to do the things that are your strengths and that you do enjoy and hopefully brings in the revenue to pay for the outsourcing.

Sometimes we can even combine something we enjoy with something we need to do.  I have to put a plug in for my youngest daughter here.  She also works on a computer all day and as a result needs to exercise more.  To solve the issue she has rigged a desk/platform on her treadmill for her computer so she can work and exercise at the same time.  Talk about the 'mother of invention.'  I thinks she is on to something.

So before you abandon your New Year’s resolutions/goals, think about why you want to quit and work through the questions.  And if you need further help, my oldest daughter is a counselor and that’s her expertise, helping people sort things out.

Here’s To Achieving Your Goals in 2016,

Annette

Painted Lady Enterprises

"Helping My Clients and Their Business Look Good"

Getting Organized

Some of the top resolutions for most people for the New Year are to make/save money, manage stress, and to get organized.  Were any of these on your list of resolutions?  One of the biggest reasons why entrepreneurs struggle to grow their business is because they are trying to do everything in their business.

  They ARE the business!!!

Have you considered Outsourcing instead of trying to do it ALL yourself?

It’s just plain smart to leverage your time rather than try to do it all yourself. Outsourcing to a virtual assistant can help you ‘buy more time’ in your work day.  It will help to relieve stress and allow you to start working ON your business, instead of being trapped, working IN your business. 

There are all types of virtual assistant services available that can help with organizing your business depending on your needs.   

Here are a few of the services that PLE offers:

· - Set-up Social Media Accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Google+)

·       - Creating custom banners for Social Media accounts

        - Following up with clients/customers ( sending reminder emails)

        - Sending greeting cards, i.e. thank you, birthday, anniversary, reminder, etc.

        - Database building, editing, (i.e. updating email/contact lists on CRM, Constant Contact, SendOutCards accounts, etc.)

        - Research on topics/content for blog posts, newsletters, websites, etc. 

        - Research to find vendors for a project, service, event, etc.

        - Creating reports (reports on weekly tasks, deliverables, sales, spreadsheets, etc.)

        - Creating forms, flyers, brochures, etc.

        - Preparing Slideshows, videos, (PowerPoint presentations)

        - Managing and updating social media accounts

        - Editing video, uploading videos

        -  Setting up, managing, Blog

        - Publishing Blog posts (content provided)

        - Filter and replying to comments on blog

        - Creating website, making edits, and maintaining 

        What's causing you stress and taking up your time?  Outsourcing the work you don't like to

do, don't have time to do, or just don't want to do, can give you back the time you need to focus on your business and what you do best.  Hiring a VA can help get you organized and keep you on track to meet your goals and resolutions you've set for the New Year. 

        

       Let's talk.  Contact me and let's discuss your business challenges and how PLE can be of help to you and your business. 

       Happy New Year! 

Annette

www.PaintedLadyEnterprises.com  

"Helping My Clients and Their Business Look Good"