As it’s Christmas, make like Santa . . .

. . . Nope, I’m not recommending donning a red suit, or buying all and sundry expensive gifts. Take a bit of time out over the Christmas break, for a bit of beard (or chin) stroking and reflect on your marketing activity over 2008.

Ask yourself these very basic questions as you’re sitting back, attempting to digest your turkey, mince pies, chocolates and the inevitable gallon of exotic booze. . .

• What did I do in 2007 that comes under the marketing banner?
• What went well?
• What didn’t go so well?
• What am I kidding myself about in my answers to the first 3 questions? Because let’s face it, if we’ve done a web site, produced a nice bit of print, or attended a humm-dinger of a networking event, but have got diddly from it, we might think we’ve done well (on effort), but we’re probably a bit light on results.

And here are the killers:

• What would I do again?
• Did some of my 2007 successes come from activities I didn’t class as marketing a minute ago? (If so, it’s time to revisit your notion of what marketing is, because those all important conversations with your existing clients that swell the order book count, as do recommendations that just seemed to ‘walk in the door’).
• What would I like to do that I simply don’t find the time for? (And if there are a few answers springing up to this one, ask yourself: What would it cost me to get some help for this. And would the activity convert into hard cash to pay for that help?

Answer these little Christmas crackers and you’ll be rolling into the new year with a part-baked marketing plan for the next 12 months. So once you’ve eaten the last sausage roll and downed the last sherry, you can come back to these same thoughts with a a renewed appetite for marketing that will make 2008 a joyous one. Ho ho ho.

Enjoy!

Sara is a marketing specialist with a wealth of on-line and traditional experience. With award winning credentials as an advertising writer, her career also spans the disciplines of planning and strategy for both B2B and consumer clients. Having worked for one of the the UK's biggest non-London agencies, Sara now works on a consultancy basis for clients large and small. http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk/blog