3 Marketing Resolutions for 2017

Happy New Year, marketers! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break, and are ready to jump into 2017 full of creative ideas and new initiatives. But unlike those of us who are vowing to hit the gym five times a week and really start eating healthy (cough, cough), I hope you're prepared to not fall off the marketing resolution band wagon. Or at least avoid tumbling off if you're realistic. To help you out, here are three marketing resolutions I think every marketer can benefit from in 2017. 1. Stop Saying 'That's Not Possible' Now, this isn't saying "yes" to more things (though that's not a bad thing to practice on a personal level). Marketing departments are regularly told to do more with less, to be creative but mind the budget, blah blah blah. So much so, that sometimes it's easier to just say "That's not possible," than to spend some time brainstorming how to make a good idea a reality. Well knock it off. Instead, if an idea seems like it could have legs, give it a little time and attention. Map out what it would truly cost, monetarily and resource-wise, ask if your team has the skills to pull it off, and then look at ways to tweak it so that it could work with your budget and staff. If at that point it still seems out of reach, THEN set it aside, but don't trash it for good. You never know what could happen down the road that could allow that "impossible" idea to become something of genius. 2. Think Before You Tweet, Post, Snap I have waaaaaaaay more to say on this topic in this week's upcoming "What Were They Thinking?" episode, but until then, let me recommend a simple resolution: Just because your brand has a presence on social media does not mean your brand needs to comment on all current events. 2016 saw way too many social media fails when it came to brands sharing tributes to celebrities who had died, and I'd love it if 2017 could avoid that faux pas. If you’re a social media manager for a brand and have something to share that maybe isn’t relevant coming from your brand, then don’t. Instead, share it from your personal account, unrelated to who you work for. 3. Get Better at Meetings This resolution is near and dear to my soul ... just ask any of my colleagues. When I come in Monday morning and review my weekly calendar and see an endless string of meetings throughout the week, well, needless to say there's some grumbling and sometimes some salty language, depending on what my to-do list looks like. Don't get me wrong: Meetings are often extremely useful and can get a project moving in the right direction straight out of the starting gate. But they can also be annoying time-sucks that leave you wondering what the heck just happened. So what can you do? Well, think twice before scheduling a meeting with multiple people. Is it something that could be discussed casually first, before bringing together a larger group? Or maybe you just need 10 minutes to bounce some ideas off someone before taking your idea to the next level? Then you don't need to schedule a meeting, especially one that might just be a "kickoff" to a series of longer, more in-depth gatherings. Respect your time, and respect the time of your colleagues by doing the prep in advance. Trust me, they'll love you for it. Well, those are my three suggested resolutions for you marketers ... what do you think? Leave me a comment below with some of your own professional resolutions!

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3 Marketing Resolutions for 2017

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Melissa Ward

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Melissa Ward