What marketing can teach us about New Year’s Resolutions
Published: January 16 2023
As we all settle into a new year, catch up on our emails, and make plans for the months ahead, many of us—in one way or another—are also creating New Year’s Resolutions for ourselves and our businesses.
You may choose to call them resolutions, goals, objectives or intentions, but you’re likely thinking about where you are today and where you want to be at the end of the year.
In marketing, as in many other fields of work, we are very familiar with the idea of annual goal setting. While we don’t always start working with clients in January, we do often work with them to set 12 month goals for sales, growth and brand awareness. We know all-too-well what kind of “resolutions” tend to succeed, and what causes them to fizzle out after week three.
So, whether you’re trying to get in shape, grow your business, make new friends or eat better this year, here’s a few tips from the marketing world to help you succeed in your New Year’s Resolutions this year.
Pick measurable goals
We never set a goal for a client we can’t measure. Looking to grow your social media accounts? What does that mean? Which data points can we use to decide whether or not we met that goal? Want to raise brand awareness with a print ad? Let’s put a QR code on the article so we can track how many website visits you got from the ad.
When you’re setting goals for the year, you should have the same rule for yourself. “Getting healthy” or “Networking more often” are admirable goals, but how will you measure them? At the end of the year, can you easily look back and determine whether or not you were successful? Or will it be conveniently easy to shrug your shoulders and file it under “good enough.”
We make sure we agree on measurable outcomes with our clients so they can hold us accountable to helping them meet their goals. Be sure to hold yourself accountable to meeting yours too!
Be confident in who you are
One of the biggest mistakes we see businesses make is not having a true understanding of who they are as a brand when they set their goals. They set their sights on things they think they “should” achieve, but end up wasting time and money trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Without a clear understanding of their brand, business’ marketing goals are almost destined to fail.
The same goes for you.
Make sure you understand who you are and what you actually want, rather than who you think you “should” be and what you think other people want from you.
Be true to yourself, and only pick goals that will benefit you and enrich your life in a meaningful way.
Don’t be afraid of failure
Speaking of what makes Kelowna's favourite businesses successful, Rob Cupello highlights the importance of taking risks without fear of failure.
One of the biggest reasons we see businesses shy away from trying new things or choosing bold objectives is the fear of failure. Unfortunately, keeping everything the same doesn’t often result in major growth.
The truth is, we don’t always know for sure whether or not our recommendations will work. While we have expertise and decades of experience driving the work we do with clients, it’s just not possible to know if a particular marketing strategy will glean the desired results until we try it.
And, actually, “failure” is often exactly what needs to happen in order to achieve business growth. Sometimes, we need to find out what doesn’t work so we can pivot to what does. All the statistics and market research in the world might point to TikTok ads being the best choice for a business, but if they don’t work as planned, we get to learn something. And the more we learn, the better we can do our job.
The same goes for setting any kind of goal or resolution you can think of. Be bold with your goals, and be prepared for something to go wrong. Most importantly, when you hit a bump in the road, don’t give up.
If we canceled every campaign that didn’t perform well in the first two weeks, we’d have no campaigns left to manage.
The first time you miss a scheduled workout, have to cancel a coffee date or open up a bag of chips, ask yourself what you can learn from the momentary blip. Consider whether your goal needs tweaking, or if there’s anything you can do to better set yourself up for success in the future.
Invest in your goals (because you’re worth it!)
Marketing costs money. Marketing also makes money.
When budgets are tight, we see time and time again that marketing is the first to go. But marketing done well isn’t an expense but an investment.
Consider any costs associated with helping you meet your goals or resolutions. Maybe it’s a gym membership. Maybe it’s a productivity app. Maybe it’s a meal prep service.
Whatever it may be, if it will truly help you with your goals and enrich your life, the cost associated with it should be seen as an investment in yourself.
Of course, don’t spend on things you can’t immediately afford, but also don’t be afraid to spend in the short term on things that will benefit you in the long run.
More on marketing
If you made it this far in the blog, chances are you like marketing, planning, goal setting or all three. And if that’s the case, we have some recommended resources and content you will definitely appreciate:
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In this episode of The M Bomb, our marketing video series where we break down marketing concepts and trends, our CMO Rob Cupello takes to Reddit to answer marketing questions from business owners and marketers like you.
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