‘Tis the season to be ambitious.  Not just with your New Year’s Resolutions, but also with your new year’s marketing plan.

Many marketers will come to work next Monday having promised to do too much.  It’s not to say those goals aren’t worthwhile, or won’t help the company.  But your eyes might be bigger than your bandwidth, or your ability to focus and execute on so many priorities over the next several months.

We do this with New Year’s Resolutions every year, too.  So how can you ensure you’re not biting off more than you can chew?  These four tips can equally apply to your New Year’s Resolutions and your marketing plan:

Be Realistic:  The list of what could or should be done is always long.  As much as you want to do it all, be realistic about what can get done right now.  Just because you’re not focused on something in January, doesn’t mean it can’t be a priority in the second quarter.  Be realistic as well about the resources you have to get things done.

Be Measurable:  For everything you commit to do, make sure you know how to measure success.  The closer you can measure success back to revenue, the better.  But that’s not always possible.  Still, if you’re going to choose something on your short list of focus areas, make sure you know how to measure success, and make sure your team and your manager know what that is from the get-go.

Be Diligent:  Many New  Year’s Resolutions fade away because there’s little discipline in keeping them top of mind, and keeping them moving.  Schedule regular check-ins, at least with yourself, to gauge progress and next steps on every commitment you’ve made.  Do it with your team or manager to keep yourself even more accountable.

Be Flexible:  The path you envisioned on January 1^st to reach your goals won’t always work out.  If you hit roadblocks along the way, be flexible and creative to find new ways to still meet that goal.   The more flexible you are, the more likely you are to find and stick to alternative paths to success.

If you're a book publisher, you're not really in the book business.  You're in the information business.  How that information is shared is largely irrelevant, as long as it creates value for your customers and can be monetized.

If you're a newspaper, you're definitely not in the printed news business.  Certainly not anymore, or at least not for long.  I read The Seattle Times more now than ever, but I don't get ink on my fingers.  I read it online, and read some of their bloggers multiple times a day.  Competing in the category of news will be difficult (or at least highly competitive) for newspapers moving forward.  But the opportunity to synethize large piles of complicated information into something that's understandable, relevant and actionable for me?  That has value. 

PR agencies shouldn't be selling access to the press.  They shouldn't put focus on press clippings or media tours.  They sell awareness, consideration and purchase intent for their clients.  That has value.

Of course, Starbucks isn't in the coffee business.  They're selling affordable luxuries.  Yes, they've had missteps along the way, but they know the physical assets they're selling doesn't equal what they really do.

Smart companies and brands define themselves not by what they produce, but by what that asset creates and/or enables for the customer. 

Take what you do, for example.  Keep asking the question "why does that matter" or "why would someone need that" or "why do my customers care about that" until you can't anymore.  The last answer you had?  That's what you do.

We've been working more closely with several local nonprofit organizations lately, and the more I speak with those responsible for fundraising and donor relations, the more I realize just how similar the process is to creating and managing a for-profit sales process.

I'm also seeing the same fundamental needs for those marketing a charitable cause or nonprofit organization. The below five fundamentals of nonprofit marketing are a starting point, but should be at the core of every nonprofit's strategy.

Donor Profiles: There are so many worthy organizations out there. Which prospective donors are going to be most predisposed to support your cause? What do those potential donors have in common - their associations, their history, their demo or psychographic make-up? You don't need to hone in on just one specific donor profile, but you should have a good sense for the 2-4 profiles that are your primary target. The more you know about them, the more self-evident the messages, channels and tactics will be to engage them directly.

Defining Your Product: What are you "selling" to prospective donors? It's not the tactics of what you actually do, but the outcome of that work. All too often, nonprofits tell their donors about the operations, or what additional infrastructure or materials they need. But what is all that for? What are you enabling? How are you making lives better? What's the benefit, the result, the outcome of what you're doing? THAT is your product, and that's the kind of vision your prospective donors will be attracted to.

Storytelling: Spend less time describing what you do, and more time telling stories about the differences you're making. Tell stories about the recipients of your work. Share the before and after. When it's an option, let the recipients of your work tell the story for you - in print, on video, and in person. Stories make an impression far longer-lasting than mission statements and operational descriptions. Stories can communicate the emotion behind what you're doing better than anything else.

Mobilizing the Community: Take your product definition, your mission, and think carefully about the ecosystem of people, groups, organizations, communities and businesses that relate to it. How can those various individuals and groups help you spread the word, or even contribute directly? If you're involved in transitional housing, how good are your relationships with local real estate offices? Are they giving directly? Are the individual Realtors involved, and getting their own buyer/seller customers involved? Be exhaustive and creative about mobilizing related communities on behalf of your organization.

Creating Evangelists: You have them already. Passionate donors. Highly-involved volunteers and board members. A variety of individuals and groups who feel strongly about what you're doing. No matter their level of passion, they won't help spread the word as widely as they could if you don't help them. Give them reminders to do so, give them content to pass along, give them the facilities and tools to share. This alone can be so simple, but so powerful. Identifying, arming and mobilizing the evangelists in and around your organization can be the very foundation of your marketing strategy.

Over the next several weeks, I'll go deeper into each of these fundamentals with more examples and suggestions for action.

I do a reasonable job keeping up with email, but there’s cheating involved.

For several types of emails, I’ve created distribution rules that automatically sort and file said emails into folders separate from my inbox.  For email newsletters I use these rules aggressively. 

Good news in this is that they don’t clutter my inbox (since none of them ever require immediate attention). Bad news is that they do tend to pile up.  As of this morning, I had more than 150 email newsletters awaiting my review.

Notice the past tense.  As of this afternoon, I declared newsletter bankruptcy and deleted everything prior to this week.  Sure, there may have been things in those newsletters I’d find valuable.  But is it worth my time to go back and read all 150?  Probably not.  I’m hedging my bets, but also triaging that against everything else I need to focus on to help my customers and make money for myself.

Where’s your backlog?  Does it make you anxious just to think about it?  It might be a backlog of emails, newsletters, magazines, blog posts to read, or basically any type of information that’s valuable but not critical to your life or business.

Is it time to declare bankruptcy and start from zero?  And would that actually make you not only feel better, but be more productive and get more done?

First-hand knowledge is always better.  There's no way we can get it for everything all the time, of course, but understanding, learning about or experiencing something first-hand eliminates all other biases, filters and interpretations that can cloud the real story, meaning or implication of what we're seeing - and what to do about it.

Genchi Genbutsu literally means "go and see for yourself" in Japanese, and is a philosophy espoused particularly well by Toyota executives to understand and improve a particular automotive production problem.  Rather than rely on reports or spreadsheets, these executives would go see the problem for themselves.  Yes, it's a bigger investment in time.  But it can often lead to better decision-making and results.

We will always need to rely on others to observe & report for us on a variety of things.  But think about what's most important to you - for yourself and particularly for your business.  Which things do you currently rely on others to observe, analyze and summarize?  Which of those things should you, instead, go and see for yourself?  Some samples:

Eat Your Own Dogfood:  Are you your own customer?  If you're a software manufacturer, do you use your own software directly?  Have you personally tried installing or upgrading?  This alone can lead to significant insights and prioritization of future product improvements, new features, etc.

Direct Customer Observation:  How often have you watched your customers use your products or services?  I'm not just talking about in a lab or focus group environment.  Go to their natural environment, and watch how they use it.  Ask questions about how they're using it, what they're trying to accomplish.  Observe directly how well it works, how it could be faster & easier, or how it could more directly solve the primary problem or objective.

Secret Shopping:  What are your competitors doing especially well?  How do they market and sell their products?  Don't just research it - experience it!  Become a customer (or at least a prospect) with your primary competitors.  Experience first-hand how they sell, how they onboard, how they service existing customers.   You'll quickly learn (first-hand) where they're strong and where they're weak.

Answer the Phones:  What would happen if every executive on your team spent one day a month answering customer service calls?  What would they hear and learn directly, and how would that impact how they felt about what customers need and want, and how the current product strategy addresses that?  What other direct customer interactions make sense for your business, and how do you get more managers to see & hear that for themselves?

Have you noticed the decrease in direct mail volume to your mailbox lately?  Fewer credit card offers, fewer Realtor “just listed” postcards, fewer cell phone and Internet access mailers.  Now that you think of it, mail volume is lower at work, too, isn’t it?

More and more marketers are cutting way back on "snail mail."  Some are doing it for cost reasons - email, social media and other channels feel cheaper.   Plus, they’re certainly faster to market for organizations that want results right now, and want to measure impact the same day.

But with the right audience, offer and context, direct mail can still be highly effective.  And with so many marketers pulling back from the postman, is 2010 a good time to strategically add some direct mail back to your marketing mix?

Here are four specific examples of where direct mail might make sense:

Consumers: Like you, most consumers are getting fewer marketing messages in their mailbox these days.  But, also like you, they’re sorting said mail after getting home from a busy day – with dinner, kids, and other domestic duties awaiting.  You have less than a second to get their attention.  With consumers you know are relevant prospects, I’d stick with postcards, oversized, with a simple message and call to action.  Consider testing a free and risk-free offer that doesn’t require a purchase – just a registration or other value-added offer that gets more of the right consumers to take the next step, and enter into a direct conversation with you. 

Small Businesses:  Small businesses still get and receive their mail directly – no mail rooms, no complicated mail-routing systems.  With small businesses, focus on simple but core messages – make money, save money, save time.  Be respectful of their time by keeping content tight and focused on benefits & outcomes, not features and details.

Enterprise Decision-Makers:  Overnight packages (the envelope type especially) are a great way to get through the gatekeepers that restrict access to your executive decision-maker prospects.  You don’t need it to be overnight either – send it 2-3 day for cheap and it’ll still get delivered in a special package and/or separately from the regular mail.  Make the message short and simple, and test a big offer depending on your acquisition economics (I’ve been successful recently with Kindle offers in exchange for meetings for some prospects).  Send the same package to others in the executive suite at the same company, and tell them so at the bottom of your letter.  Then follow up via phone after a few days.  

Ready-to-buy Prospects:  If you know a particular prospect (or group of prospects) are ready to make a purchase decision quickly, what would you spend to get their attention?  What would it be worth to get them to try your product, speak to your sales team, or take a demo?  Don’t ignore the impact of direct mail (letters, packages, etc.) as an effective, cut-through-the-clutter way to get their attention and drive action.

Scott Cook, legendary founder of Intuit, discussed in a recent issue of Inc Magazine how today’s entrepreneurs can continue to incubate new ideas while successfully focusing on today’s day-to-day revenue generation.  His answer can be broken down into four keys to achieving both innovation and execution today:

Make sure employees know which output metric they are responsible for and how it is measured.  Focus on the metrics that matter most to growing the business (new customers, margin, top-line growth).  These measures will ensure proper focus on today’s business, and will also give employees a foundation from which to brainstorm and incubate new ideas focused on the same end-goal.

Enable all of your employees – not just a small group – to invest business ideas or product features.  Don’t predetermine which employees – based on rank or tenure or paycheck – will have your business’s next great innovation.  Oftentimes, it’s the frontline employees who speak with your customers all day, every day who are first to see trends and identify new opportunities.

Run cheap, quick tests to make sure you are on the right track.  The first step could be running the idea back by a few customers to gauge their feedback.  But don’t overthink these tests.  Get enough feedback to hone the idea and mitigate risk/exposure of taking it to the next step.

Think big!  For innovations to succeed, they must solve a large enough problem for the customer.  This doesn’t mean that every innovation is a new product, or new division, or fundamental shift in your business.  It just means, to succeed, innovations need to make a profound impact on the customer.  That impact can still be created by relatively small changes in policy, features, supply chain and more.