Refresh Your Focus for Success in 2016

January is a turning-point for many. On a personal level we resolve to become fit, healthier, and maintain better relationships. From a business stand point we focus on profit and growth. Unfortunately, much of that profit and growth is harder to achieve if you are not up to speed with current trends. Shift your focus to the following areas:

Invest In Your Employees And Leverage Their Strengths 
Know the weaknesses of your employees but highlight their strengths. Leaders that can pinpoint the strengths of their employees will have greater success when managing projects, building culture, and maintaining satisfied employees. Create scenarios in which you know they will be successful. This practice helps build their confidence both in the workplace and in their industry. Invest in their growth by offering tools to master their weaknesses such as presentation skills seminars or effective sales workshops which will show them you care about their professional improvements. Get to know them and acknowledge a job well done, a thank you always goes a long way.

Build Your Company Culture
To take your business to the next level you must build a strong foundation. By shaping company culture, the customer experience grows ten-fold because when your employees enjoy what they do and their workplace environment, they exert that same energy to both clients and co-workers. Companies like Zappos are known for their incredibly happy employees which translates into incredibly happy customers. Happiness is contagious for sure.

Tell Your Story
More companies are finding a way to tell their story. By revealing the faces, experiences, dreams, and concerns about the world around us, consumers can connect more deeply with a company. Products become sentimental and services become essential. In order to build your company’s story you need to: be honest; show your customers they have a need that your company  can solve; convey what your values are; and continuously build upon that story.

Focus On Relationship Marketing 
This goes hand-in-hand with creating your company story. Developing an ongoing relationship is not always enough for consumers, they are looking to their peers for purchasing opinions and are taking into consideration their best buying experiences. Go above and beyond by offering a little to get a lot in return: ask for customer feedback; offer incentives without expectation; switch out products seasonally; and go above and beyond. 

Have A Digital Marketing Strategy
Placing your products or services in the forefront of the consumer is increasingly difficult without an implementation strategy for digital marketing. Unfortunately, many small businesses do not always have a team in place to be able to create and execute. To become more organized, the first step is to look to look at a calendar and map out important marketing dates month by month. Then list necessary steps for execution: do you have to hire a photographer; do you need to create content for an email; will you have to have a banner ad designed? By doing so, you will be much more organized when you are ready to implement your plan.

At the beginning of each month take time to set deadlines for campaigns and begin to check tasks off your list. Break the week down by using social scheduling tools like Hootsuite, to organize social content. Create clear and simple content for emails campaigns and always keep your message consistent from your website, to banner ads, to your Facebook cover. This will allow you to stay more organized and avoid becoming stagnant.

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