2016 is finally over and 2017 is here. Finally, it's a new year! And with that new year comes the inevitable New Year's Resolutions. You've probably made one or two yourself. Maybe it's quitting smoking. Or losing weight. Perhaps you want to read more. Whatever they are, you make them with the best of intentions and are hoping to improve your quality of life. For the same reason, you need to resolve to improve the quality of your marketing which can improve your business.

Unfortunately, the tradition of making a resolution goes hand in hand with breaking a resolution. You might skip the gym one day and then find yourself never going back. Suddenly, you're back at square one. One of the hardest things to do is to form a new, positive habit. But there are ways you can ease into a new pattern in order to make it stick. The same goes for marketing your business. Here are some ways to help you form new marketing habits that can lead to a positive change in your company's bottom line.

Start Small

One of the biggest mistakes when starting something new is trying to do everything at once. You wouldn't join a gym and start off in the advanced classes, would you? Okay, maybe you would - let me know how that heart attack is. Instead, it's always best to start small and then increase the level of difficulty when you've mastered the basics.

In marketing, this can mean focusing on only one or two objectives or just utilizing a couple of media channels. This is especially important if you have a limited budget. There are plenty of media options available to a business, but you should only focus on media you can do and do well. If zoned Cable best reaches your target audience and delivers your message, you don't need to buy broadcast TV, billboards, newspaper ads, or anything else. Once you've effectively used this medium and your business has grown enough to need to expand your reach, only then should you consider trying something else. But don't give up on what's worked in the past; rather, build on to effective programs to make them better.

Stay Consistent

In addition to starting small, consistency is key. If you're trying to lose weight, you can't go to the gym just once. You have to go regularly. The same goes for marketing. There's always a story about how some company wants to spend all their money on a single ad in the Super Bowl, thinking that one ad will carry them through the year. That company might do well for a while, but it's unlikely they'll see a real return on that investment.

The same goes for your company's marketing. You can't expect to run an ad for a short while and expect that it will deliver the same results for weeks. What works best is a consistent message to your target audience. This doesn't mean you have to run ads every day or week, but it does mean you need regular exposure to your audience to generate the response you're hoping to get. It's this consistency that will lead your potential customers to start taking your desired actions.

Make Positive Changes Through Testing

As mentioned earlier, once you've discovered what works for your business it's important to build on those successes to make the program better. This might sound contradictory to my last point of staying consistent, but once you've formed a good habit you do need to try to improve it. Sticking with the gym analogy, you can expect improvements in your physical condition if you are consistently going to the gym and doing the same workouts. However, there will be a point where doing the same thing will not deliver any additional benefits. That's when you need to make some small adjustments. Using a slightly heavier set of weights or trying some different exercises will enable you to make some positive changes. And once you've figured out what best makes those changes, stay consistent with them until you've reached another plateau.  

You may find that your campaigns are getting stale and not delivering the same results as before. That's when you make minor changes to your campaign and see what works best for your business. That means testing out new options - starting small, of course - and seeing which makes the most positive changes. Then, staying consistent with those new tactics until you find you need to make improvements again.

By following these suggestions, you'll find that getting into a new habit of marketing your business should be easy. Of course, if you find yourself overwhelmed by these tips, feel free to reach out to our team for some expert media planning in 2017. You can contact us here. And in no time, your business will grow quickly. That's something McCulloch+Company resolves to do for all our clients.