We have just finalized our 2009 Strategic Marketing Plan. Along with that plan I thought about some New Year’s Resolutions that we as marketers could all follow in ’09.

1) Don’t whine about the economy..deal with it
2) Look for new market segments
3) Spend more time with customers
4) Do 1 ride along per month with a salesperson
5) Develop a loyalty program
6) Benchmark with people outside your firm
7) Create a customer referral program
8) Rollout a sales contest
9) Don’t lower your prices (it will come back to haunt you)
10) Organize a fun activity….yes at work

We live in a great country. It is still the land of opportunity. Let’s go out there and make it happen.

Dave

www.salessherpas.com

Social media is still in its infancy and we marketers are still trying to determine how to harness its power. There is no doubt of the explosion of social media. According to a poll conducted during the second quarter by Forrester Research, 75% of U.S.-based Internet users report taking part in some form of social media this year, up from 56% during the second quarter of 2007.

Facebook, which boasts more than 120 million current active members and is the leading social network worldwide attracted more than 39 million U.S.-based unique visitors in September 2008, a 116% increase over the same period in 2007.

We marketers are entering into unchartered territory. Never before have we utilized a marketing medium where we have such little control. Social media is the Wild West of marketing. We are not in control the users are in control. So how do we navigate through this new territory?

Big firms and small alike are flocking to social marketing to set-up pages on social networks. More and more firms are launching blogs, online communities, posting videos and consumer-generated review systems. However, simply launching these efforts is not enough. Monitoring these mediums for user generated content is also vital. We can quickly discover flaws in our products/services that were not caught during product development. New uses for our products/services are discovered.

Social marketing is in its infancy…it is a time of experimentation. However, we must not get overzealous and blow our entire marketing budgets on social marketing. It is yet another arrow in our marketing quiver. So, put your strategy in place and begin exploring this exciting new medium.

Dave

www.salessherpas.com

Many marketers have been downsized in the past year. Having done some recent hiring I have become keenly aware of the volume of high-caliber marketers out there looking for jobs. BTW-I have also been through a downsizing (I can relate).

Here are some tips for Downsized Marketers:

1) Don’t panic – It may take sometime to find that next job but it is out there
2) Scale back on unnecessary expenses
3) Avoid cashing in your 401k look at other sources for income first
4) Write down a game plan
a) List all of the people in your network (you may already have these in LinkedIn)
b) If you aren’t on LinkedIn set-up an account now (it is free and a great job search tool)
c) List family and friends (these are also part of your network)
d) Develop an email that can be forwarded to prospective employers (via your network)
5) Set-up a goal to have lunch/coffee with 4 people per week in your network
6) Contact employers(hiring managers) you wish to work for – don’t wait for a job posting
7) Do some consulting/freelance work – This will provide you new experiences, generate some cash and also fill in the “employment gap” while you are looking.
7) Create a personal website – Network Solutions provides a template format and url for $125/yr
8) Create an email address tied to your new website (e.g. david.gee@geecreative.com)
9) Search job boards:
* Big Shoes Network – (great resource in Wisconsin, Illinois, Wisconsin). BSN is focused on marketing and advertising only and top firms are using it to recruit. bigshoesnetwork.com
* LinkedIn – Good business social-networking tool
* Marketingjobs.com – A pretty good resource although jobs are limited
* Direct Marketing Association – Good source but many DM jobs only. the-dma.org
* Marketing Ladder – Set-up mainly for $100k+ marketing jobs – marketing-jobs.theladders.com
* American Marketing Association – marketingpower.com
* Sites such as Monster,CareerBuilder do have some solid jobs but tend to less-focused and everyone else is looking there too.
10) Spend time with your family – you will probably not get a break like this again.

Hang-in there….you will find a great opportunity

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful ’09.

Dave

www.salessherpas.com

As of December 15th we are in our new office, aka “The Summit.” The new location will provide us larger space for growth and better serve our clients. The new location will be equipped with a contemporary multimedia system to facilitate online collaboration meetings and client discovery sessions. The new location is: 210 East O’Connor Drive – Elkhorn, WI – 53121. Please come and visit us to discuss your needs or just come over and grab a beer (HR hasn’t put a stop to that one yet).

All the best,

Dave