At the start of a new year, folks have predictions, resolutions, goals, and other areas of focus that too often end up as wishes pretty quickly.
Instead of grand proclamations, I wanted to offer up a few pragmatic areas to focus on in 2023.
I’ve broken them down to four focuses so that you can keep them with you throughout the year.
Know Your Target Customer: Business success starts with understanding who your customer is or who you want that customer to be.
To deliver success in 2023, you’re going to need to start with an understanding of who it is that you are trying to sell to.
Why You?: This is about value proposition and position.
What position are you taking in the market?
What is it about you that makes you the right choice in your situation?
What is it that you do better or differently than the other alternatives?
As an example, my tagline is “Focused. Effective. Profitable.” In the world of strategy and marketing that is unique because there is no point where I stop looking at the bottom line and the quickest route to results.
What is your point of differentiation?
Know What Success Looks Like: I start every session of “The Whiteboard Workshop” with the admonition that “we need to define what success looks like.” Then we come back to the idea over and over again throughout the day.
My question to you is: “Do you know what success looks like for you?”
Is it a monetary goal?
A meetings goal?
A website visitors goal?
Meeting a certain person?
Winning business from a certain company?
Whatever it is, spell it out and make it measurable so you can tell for sure that you’ve reached your goal.
Remember the idea of SMART objectives:
Specific
Measurable
Ambitious
Realistic
Time-Bound
Be Consistent: If you ask me how I can tell a business’s strategy is struggling, I’ll point to a business that seems to be all over the place with new messages, new products, new ideas, new “initiatives”, etc.
Mark Ritson teaches his Mini-MBA in Brand Management students to be “radically consistent”.
You bet your ass he’s right.
Pick a destination.
Understand that there will be ups and downs, but commit to staying the course towards your definition of success.
Don’t let the flavor of the day trip you up.
Tell me what you are up to in the new year in the comments below.
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