It’s not a mistake, I know this jovial Happy New Year post is hitting in February.  By all accounts it is still new in the year… hell it’s still the first quarter!

So, which part of your marketing plan have you actually executed on?  Let’s review some (not all) of the things you may have included in it for 2012:

• Social Media
• Social Networking
• Advertising (print/online)
• New Product Brochures
• New Product Launches
• Trade Show Schedules
• Events
• Rebrand Integration Efforts
• Public Relations
• Story Pitching
• Web Content Management
• SEO/SEM
• Web Analytics
• Video Production & Promotion
• Employee & Client Engagement
• Pre-IPO planning
• Post-IPO planning
• International Marketing Efforts
• Printed Collateral
• Blog Postings
• Webinars
• Podcasts
• Newsletters
• Email Campaigns

Since we started RTJ in Vegas, it’s fitting that we ‘bet’ you’re still in the planning, ideation, or polishing phases of each and every one of the bullets above that apply to you and your teams.  We’re also gonna bet, you haven’t delivered on many, if any.

Hence the Happy New Marketing Year sentiment!

You’re barely 45 days in.  Unless you have a team of 20+ focused on production, creative direction, design, copy writing, market research, due diligence, strategy, and marketing project management, THERE’S NO WAY IN HELL YOU CAN EXECUTE ON YOUR ENTIRE MARKETING PLAN IN 45 DAYS!

If you think you can, you’re a hamster in a wheel, and you’re missing out on the very essence of marketing – creation.  Cut yourself some slack.  Re-set your deadlines, work-flow, and delegation.   Marketing is a work in progress; it’s an evolution.  Just look at that list… social media, SEO – these weren’t even thought of in a marketing plan 10 years ago.

ROMI

At the end of the day Marketing is also about spending money to generate money back.  You’re budget is for the entire year – let’s be sure you’re setting expecations with the end in mind.  Return on marketing investment is completely different than revenue… not all returns are revenue in marketing.  Other measurements for returns can be in the form of awareness and impressions (ie: web traffic, click throughs, etc…) for example.

Marketing is a philosophy – everyone’s should only be slightly (versus completely) different.  But at the core, it’s about knowledge sharing, thought leadership, and creativity.

You can either speed through marketing initiatives cutting your payback period short (which can be perceived [albeit wrongly] as failure); or you can act in a time sensitive manner, methodical and considerate of the whole year or year on year benefits of your marketing efforts over time.

We like our clients to live somewhere in the middle. We also like to have a clear understanding about the expectations of time and measurement.  Remember, it’s February, we’ll circle back after Q1.  Let the creativity continue!!1

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