10 New Year’s Resolutions Every Chicago Business Owner Should Make for 2019

As you embark on a new year, it is an excellent time to reflect on the success of your marketing strategy – and determine how you want your business to grow in the year ahead. You can structure these goals as New Year’s resolutions to create a solid business plan that supports sustained growth through 2019 and beyond. To get started, consider setting these 10 effective New Year’s resolutions in order to achieve true marketing success.

1. Build an Annual Marketing Plan

Now is the time to create and implement an annual marketing plan that allows you to attract new leads and convert them into paying clients. While building off information from the prior year, your plan should detail the ways you will advertise your company’s products and services in the coming year. With a great annual plan in place, you can take advantage of more opportunities to increase sales and optimize your yearly revenues.

2. Use Chicago Radio

To improve your marketing success in 2019, you can partner with your favorite Chicago radio stations for advertisement opportunities. We recently assisted Andy’s Frozen Custard with their core advertising objectives with great results. The partnership helped with increasing Andy’s brand exposure, improving the customer experience and generating connections with the community.

3. Sponsor Traffic Reports

With your Chicago radio partnership, you can sign up to sponsor traffic reports and get word of your brand out to the masses. When you take advantage of open spots during drivetime periods, you can reach a large number of commuters at once with your advertisements. With the third longest commute in the country, sponsoring traffic reports in Chicago is an excellent way to achieve marketing success.

4. Improve Your Website

Most shoppers perform online research about products and services offered by companies of all sizes before making a purchase. You can ensure that you are well-represented online with a functional and attractive website. You will need to make sure your web design is mobile responsive – or works well across all devices and browsers – to have the greatest impact.

5. Incorporate Video

In 2019, video is projected to drive 80% of all consumer website traffic. You can tap into this segment by creating videos that engage and educate your target audience. The video should offer value in the form of great information or entertainment to keep your audience engaged and to build brand loyalty.

6. Improve Your Social Media Presence

To remain competitive in the digital age, your brand must have a social media presence and engaging content to back it up. You can improve your social media presence by creating content that directly speaks to your audience’s pain points and preferred solutions. You can even pair your social media and radio advertising efforts to create timely, targeted advertisements that encourages customer action.

7. Host a Live Event

You can build up your brand by planning to host at least one live event in the coming year. You can use well-timed events to build excitement about new product releases or services coming to your brand. Or simply increase your connection with your community through charity events or concerts.

8. Connect with Social Media Influencers

When you connect with social media influencers, you can quickly increase the visibility of your brand and attract new leads to your sales team. These individuals often have thousands of followers awaiting their opinions and advice in specific areas. When the influencers speak positively about your products, services or brand in general, consumers build trust in and loyalty to your brand faster than ever.

9. Refresh Your Branding

The start of the new year gives you the opportunity to refresh your branding to improve connections with your target audience. Your brand identity should reflect the personality and mission of your company to naturally attract prospective customers who match your target audience. With the right brand identity, you can dramatically improve the success of your marketing efforts.

10. Find a Trusted Media Partner

You can improve your 2019 marketing success by partnering with a trusted media partner, like the marketing experts at Hubbard Chicago. Your media partner should have the ability and range to best support your marketing efforts by building a plan that helps you achieve your goals. Furthermore, a great brand partner should implement effective tools and strategies to drive traffic your way with timely mentions and advertisements.

Set Smart New Year’s Resolutions for Your Business Today

As you prepare to excel in 2019, start creating your New Year’s resolutions for business success today. If you utilize the tips in the list above, you can help ensure that your efforts pay off in increased leads and optimized conversion rates. Your ability to create and implement a successful marketing plan will help drive growth of your company through the new year and beyond.