New Year’s resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep. But when it comes to your marketing campaign, holding to the right resolution can transform your business.  Your resolution needs to be founded in sound marketing and operational principles that match your personal business model.  These tips may make the difference between a growth campaign – and resolution – that soars, and one that misses the end of the runway.

Resolve to find your voice

The first step to any great marketing campaign is to identify your company’s voice. Your voice is the consistent language and tone you use to present yourself to your audience and customers. Is your business punchy and fun, or sound and authoritative?

Grammar matters as you develop your voice. If your communication with your audience is erratic, such as shifting between tenses and terminology, it makes it difficult for readers and viewers to connect with your brand.

If your voice needs improvement, consider working with experts in communication and market research to conduct a brand and voice audit to position your business in the marketplace. Your marketing partners will provide strategic input will guide you in developing a unique brand identity, a persona that allows your audience to not only hear you but identify you in an instant.

This process will include multiple tests of voice and style to determine what works best, not only by how it sounds but by how it connects with your audience.  A multi-channel examination of your current social media, email, and website content can identify areas that need improvement, and create a style guide that can be used across all marketing formats.

Resolve to stay true to your style

Your branding is one of the first things your audience will associate with your company. An identifiable brand gives customers a visual element to associate with you. Similar to the Coca-Cola cursive or the McDonalds arches, great branding will allow a customer to identify your company off of a single element, and to be inspired on an emotional level. 

A universal brand across all marketing outreach increases brand recognition, which helps improve recall and association. This assists your audience and customers in identifying your branding with your company.  This includes having a consistent visual style across not only your logo, but all images, website designs, and marketing material.

Resolve to communicate with your audience

With the advent of social media customers now expect direct lines of communication with the companies they work with. Develop a schedule for content, including blog posts, social media updates, and engagement with audience comments and reviews.

Your audience isn’t everywhere, and you shouldn’t try to be either. Posting on multiple sites where your audience will not see the content wastes time and energy better utilized on other aspects of your campaign.  Determining the best location to share content and marketing messages with an audience is imperative for any company looking to improve their marketing plan.

Also, make sure your website, the hub of your online presence, is up to date and styled based on current web design best practices.  If your website is outdated, missing key content or information, like services, contact info, descriptions of your staff or has multiple broken links, it can negatively affect how your customer base views you. In addition, it can derail your website’s SEO, preventing it from being seen by potential customers.

Resolve to try something new

Right now, is the best time to try something new. If your current marketing campaigns and techniques don’t feel like they’re working for you, try a platform or technique you’ve wanted to use but haven’t yet. Now is the time to experiment. Try posting on a new social network, or use new forms of communication, like video or paid social advertising. You may want to partner with a dedicated team to find the solutions which work best for you. A marketing firm can help identify the audience, voice, design, and direction a campaign should target.

A New year means new opportunities to grow your business. But finding the right path forward can be difficult in the modern marketing world. Working with a dedicated marketing firm, like Green Vine Marketing, will help you create a brand and launch a marketing plan to ensure your business thrives and grows.