Don't Be Afraid to Try Something Completely Different This Year

I love January 1! It begins a new year full of possibilities and opportunities. All of the ideas we have been pondering throughout the year can come to fruition in our plans for the new year. That is what marketing is all about. Learning from our successes and failures, honing campaigns to reach more people, and trying new venues.

Try some of these ideas to strengthen your efforts in the new year:

• Use your logo on EVERYTHING to promote awareness.
• Look at your programs or services through the eyes of your patrons and clients. What is exciting or unique? Promote from that thought pattern.
• Create a LinkedIn account to establish yourself professionally.
• Read your local newspaper and once per quarter send an e-mail to a reporter complimenting him or her on a piece s/he wrote. Just like all of us, they don't hear enough positives.
• Join your local Chamber and attend at least one event per month. Become recognizable in your community.
• Offer to speak at local civic groups like Kiwanis, Rotary, Optimist, and others to get your message out and give back by educating your community.
• For each program, service, or event, try one new marketing effort.
• Sign up for a Twitter account and find five people to follow that inspire you. Start by checking the account every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
• Conduct a survey with your patrons and ask how they would like to receive information: e-mail, snail mail, advertising, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Use the feedback for your next campaign and see if it makes a difference.
• Have a social media lunch once per month. Meet with your co-workers, staff, and superiors to see what everyone is trying. What blogs are people following? Who are they following on Twitter? What are the tweens and teens talking about? Are any of these worthy of trying?
• Remove 'this is how we've always done it' from your vocabulary. Make a penalty jar for anyone who says it in your office.

Marketing is so much fun. It allows us to be limitless in our creativity, to reach new people, and to discover a program or service all over again. This year, don't be afraid to try something completely different.

Have a fabulous new year!

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