Time to step back and ask yourself, “What do I want to do differently to grow my business in 2012?” Here are Hot Dog Marketing’s thoughts on what should make your 2012 New Year’s Resolution list:

1. Trim the Fat
No matter how big or how small, there’s probably some extra bulk in your marketing budget that would be better spent else where. What isn’t working for you? Are you getting ROI from your advertisements? Are you spending an arm and leg on online systems when you need to streamline? Examine your 2011 marketing projects and re-evaluate the projects that haven’t returned any of your investment.

2. Add Muscle
Have you been running your own marketing campaigns? Maybe it’s time to ask for help or get an outside perspective. Sometimes when business slows and you realize the same tricks aren’t working any longer, it’s time to get a referral for a knowledgable marketing consultant.

3. Take a Risk
Now that you’ve pulled the plug on marketing initiatives that haven’t been working for you, why not parlay that money into a riskier, bolder idea. Maybe you’ve been running Google ads when really, you secretly want to try billboards. If you can afford it, try it! Just make sure you track your results. Any company that sells advertising will make you a good deal if you ask for it.

4. Offer a Special of Your Own
Why let the Groupons and LivingSocial.coms of the world take profit away from you? With your own email campaign and online advertising (and maybe a little word-of-mouth), you can offer your own ridiculous special to customers on your own. Use specials as incentives to sign-up for your email list or follow you on social media.

5. Spend More Time Investing in the People Factor
For small businesses, it’s all about networking and customer service. Shy business owners, listen up – time to find someone to be the face of your business. Someone needs to pound the pavement to make those beneficial business relationships.

Retail and service companies – hear this! Customers are increasingly dissatisfied with the service they receive from retailers. Be different. Offer world-class customer service and take time to train your employees. Make a pledge today to not let another day go by with poor customer service.

Have more ideas for marketing resolutions? Comment today and check back for blog updates. 

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1. The search terms “printable coupons” was up 45% over last year. The age of the digital coupon is upon us!
2. Terms like, “open a bank account” were up 20% over last year. Why visit the bank when you can do it online?
3. Searches for “tablet” exceeded “backpack” during the back-to-school season. Talk about a trend!

Here are some ideas to help guide you through the process:
1. What are your specialties?
Not all agencies or marketers are created equal. For example, a firm might advertise that it handles everything you might need, but later you might find a majority of its work is in website development. Maybe they’re not the right fit for your print and advertisement needs.

It’s OK to diversify. Have someone to handle your graphics and branding. Hire a web specialist or programmer to handle your online needs. Of course, if you really like the marketer you’ve just met, go with your gut. Often marketers have a wide network of resources that they use to complete the work they’ve been hired to do anyway.

2. What are the contract terms?
Don’t be afraid to ask this up-front. You don’t want to be caught at the end of the hiring process only to find out that you owe a down payment you can’t afford. Ask what their proposal and contract process usually entails. Will the firm present you with a formal proposal? What does the proposal normally include? How do those details translate to the contract? How do they handle payment? Ok, that was more like six questions. You get the point.

3. Do you have referrals?
If you just happened upon the agency, you might want to ask for some referrals. Just like hiring an employee, checking up on someone’s working past is a good idea. Your agency should be able to offer you some examples of past work as well. If they’re not able to provide you with a referral, watch out. If you were referred to the agency by a trusted resource, don’t be afraid to ask your friend the likes and dislikes of working with that agency.

4. Do you guarantee a return?
If an agency specializes in promotions, and especially if they’re asking for an upfront cost to run the promotion, ask about the return on investment. The riskier and the more expensive the pitch is, the more important it is to ask about if there’s a guarantee. Not everything works, even with the best research and intentions. Though, as fellow LinkedIn member Mark Schiavone  said recently in a Hot Dog Marketing discussion, you need to know “what skin in the game” they are willing to do. To put it another way: the marketer is asking you to bet some money it’ll work – are they confident enough in their approach to bet the same?

5. What case studies and proven history can you provide?
Small, individual freelancers may not have a formal case study they can present to you, but any one you consider should be able to rattle off some successful campaigns he/she has led. The larger the agency, the more glossy their case studies presentation should be. The longer they’ve been in business, the more examples they should have.

If you are pleased with the answers you get from these questions, the chances are that you’ll be pleased with the firm you’re interviewing. How happy you are working with the firm or individual over a period of time will be determined by that gut feeling I mentioned earlier . . . that subjective internal discussion, “Do I like this person?” Marketing successes don’t come in the short-term. Successful strategies need time to work, and whether you like the person you’re hiring will have a lot to do with determining your ability to stick with the project over the long term.

“Think about it like having a conversation with a friend but with your boss looking over your shoulder.”
That’s pretty good advice from Merrell Ligons, Digital Solutions Manager at Cox Media. “I can’t claim credit for it,” he said, admitting it’s the advice from Cox Media’s social media editor Robert Quigley. (I still give Merrell credit though – he did, after all, offer the advice.)

Social media content varies from wise-cracking to repetitive re-tweets. By their very nature, Twitter and Facebook are casual forums, attracting people visiting at leisure, to escape, reconnect and discover new things. Stiff, jargon-filled content is unlikely to attract the attention of those cruising the info-blasts for a good time, so-to-speak.

“It is better to be informal and conversational in order to invite responses and interest,” Melanie Brenneman, Senior Account Manager at Edge Legal Marketing said.

In a poll posted on Hot Dog Marketing’s AskMyMob.com page, 40% of respondents said they were typically looking for updates that were “funny” and “kill time.” The same percentage said they preferred “quirky” updates. One candid quote from a AskMyMob.com user: “Following companies is boring.”

How to Not Be Boring
Just like with any other marketing piece, you have to examine your target and determine what kind of content YOUR audience will find interesting and engaging.

“There’s a big difference between speaking with lawyers versus college students,” Brenneman said. “I think [determining good content] has to do with how well the business knows its customers.”

Hot Dog Marketing’s advice: assuming you already have a pretty good grasp on your audience, list all of the media and resources you think they might be interested in. Think of general stuff. For example, a running shoe company might know that its followers are generally healthy people, interested in organic foods and have dogs as pets . . . therefore, runners might like anything from healthy recipes to funny dog videos. If you have a wide range of ideas in mind, you can more thoughtfully choose interesting content that will help you accomplish your communications goals.

If this doesn’t help, take Bazaarvoice’s Marketing Manager Lemuel Williams’s advice: “If you are not sure how people will respond to your topic or message, vette it out first because people, by nature, want their voices to be heard.” In other words, it never hurts to just ask – thus is the beauty of this 2.0 world.

Try It and Track It
When you have a bunch of ideas of content you’d like to try, plan on a testing period and track your results. When you enter a discussion with a bunch of marketers on this topic, they are, overwhelmingly, in agreement on this point. Marketing 101, if it doesn’t work – stop doing it. Measure your click-throughs and general response rate with certain topics. If it’s not generating any buzz, try something else. You can even re-post the same content after some time has past with different wording. Once you’ve found a few tactics that work, you can develop a plan around those principles and develop more content based on what tested well.

Also, don’t forget to be patient. You’re probably not going to go viral with your first few posts (or maybe ever). Gaining followers is a long process and getting a few positive hits from something is a good indicator that your content worked.

And Now for My Final Thought (Jerry Springer style)
The worst thing you can do (and the biggest waste of your company’s time) is to use social media without a plan and goals. Do not tweet just to tweet. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, your 2.0 marketing is likely to fail. You can actually hurt your reputation if you’re not thoughtful and compelling. So, before you share, be prepared.

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