Are you ready for a new year? Here are some tips

Tom Silvestri, executive director of the Relevance Project, recently shared a list of actions to consider to “make the New Year better than 2021.”

Silvestri wrote: “It was compiled by a smart marketer here in Richmond, Va., Dave Saunders, and his firm, Madison + Main. Dave used to work at the Richmond Times-Dispatch where I was publisher. His weekly newsletter is a must-read. Dave also has a great sense of humor.”

 

• Improve your Google listing (make sure basic info like your address, phone number, and hours of operation are correct).
• Email your webmaster (make sure all the software updates to your website were made this year). 
• Update your Facebook page (change your cover photo and update basic information). 
• Check your email system (add email forwarding to anyone who may have left your company in 2021). 
• Revise your Twitter bio (and use the full 160 characters and link it to your website). 
• Update your personal LinkedIn account (add awards you received or projects you’ve completed).
• Refresh your company’s LinkedIn profile (read above). 
• Contact your web administrator and make sure your domain will not expire in 2022.
• Read and respond to your online reviews (Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.)
• Declutter (take down expired posters, outdated signage, and throw away old sales and marketing collateral). 
• Review online subscriptions (you might be shocked to learn that you’re paying $5.99 a month for a subscription to Pot Roast Today magazine). 
• Make some phone calls (pick half a dozen customers or clients you haven’t heard from in the last year and wish them a happy new year). 
• Google yourself (you may be surprised to see what has been written about you or you may be disappointed that you’re not on the first page). 
• Research the competition (take a couple of hours and look at what your competition is doing online). 
• Look at your sign (not your zodiac, but the sign in front of or on your business to see if it’s faded or all the light bulbs work). 
• Make your plan (the time to make a 2022 marketing plan is in 2021, not June of next year). 
• Make a list and check it twice (put all the marketing tactics that worked on the left, and all the ones that didn’t work on the right — then tear the page in half).
• Recruit new talent (most businesses wait until January or February to start the process).
•  Never pass up an opportunity to celebrate on your social media — whether it’s a Happy New Year, Groundhog’s Day or something new.