AMiable Solution #128: New Numbers, New Objectives

So you’ve decided to approach 2015 as a fresh start: a new opportunity to succeed.  Maybe you’ve decided to focus on growing your house list.  Increasing house response.  Prospecting more.  Or fine-tuning the timing of your promotions. 

No matter what you’d like to do to make your numbers grow in 2015, there’s a simple way to make your goals more achievable.  Quantify your efforts.  General goal statements are great for giving you direction, but quantified objectives give you the push you need to get going.  They make your goals measurable, so you know when you’ve arrived.

Were you looking to increase the size of your house list this year?  Be specific about your goal.  Maybe that means focusing on building brand recognition in a certain region or mailing five additional promotions to a “minor” segment of your market.

Planning to prospect more?  Commit to just how many additional pieces you plan to mail or how many additional new rental lists or list selects you plan to rent.

Want to increase sales or donations?  Determine just how much of an increase you’re aiming for: 5%, 10%, more?  Identifying the end-goal now will help you determine your moves throughout the year.

Your objectives are, of course, yours and can only be defined by your needs, your products or services, and your resources.  But they are universal in that they give your goals power and your 2015 more resolve.

AMiable Solution #127: New Year, New Numbers

New Year’s resolutions have become the butt of many jokes.  The resolutions themselves are often common and cliché: lose weight, exercise, make healthier decisions.  So why do people still make them?  Because January 1 offers something no other day of the year offers: the chance to start over.

Thankfully, do-overs aren’t limited to personal endeavors.  Most marketers get a fresh start in January, too.  No matter what the numbers looked like last year, a new calendar year provides businesses and organizations with a clean slate: new budgets, new goals, new chances to succeed and grow.

But to make the most of the new year, you have to understand the old one(s).  Which marketing efforts worked?  Which need to be reworked?  Which should be eliminated entirely from the 2015 marketing plan?

Although your marketing budget and plan were probably “finalized” months ago, it’s never too late—or too early—to reallocate, revise, or reschedule your original plans.  Make sure your new year brings great new results by reassessing the following:

House list.  Did your customer/donor/member base increase, stay the same, or decrease in 2014?  How did last year’s total compare to previous years?  If your list isn’t growing, you may need to re-evaluate your planned prospecting efforts for 2015.  If your list is shrinking, you may need to re-evaluate your house mailings and your core offers. 

House response.  Even if the number of clients stayed the same or increased, make sure the total sales or donations followed suit.  Maintaining a steady number of clients is great, but if those clients are ordering less or contributing fewer dollars, your bottom line is heading south and your marketing plans—even your product or service offers—may need to be beefed up to maintain your expected income.

Timing.  If promotional response seems to be off, it may be a timing issue.  Compare last year’s drop dates to key release or industry dates and see if production and distribution delays—even slight ones—may be responsible for the underperformance of a campaign.  Timing could be a particularly key issue for “standard,” reliable campaigns that fell short in 2014.

New endeavors.  So you decided to delve into a new trend or technology last year.  How did it work out?  Decide if further testing is justified or if your marketing dollars would be best spent elsewhere this year.

Whether your new year’s goals are strictly professional or personal, too, we wish you big response, big numbers, and big successes.