With a brief to write one of the last Yardstick blogs of the year, and with an inspiration gene dulled perhaps, by an excess of early Christmas cheer, it was hard for me to avoid opting for the subject of new year resolutions as a simple theme to cover.

Of course, it’s easy to adopt a cynical attitude to resolutions, especially given years of failure to get beyond 10 January before breaking them.

But, at the very least, the end of the year is the ideal time to stop and think about your personal objectives for 2024 and, if that then translates into resolutions for the coming year, then all the better.

As you’d expect, at Yardstick we tend to see things through the prism of marketing, so here are four new year resolutions you might want to consider making concerning the marketing of your business.

You’re under no obligation to pick all, or even any of them, but hopefully there’ll be one or two here that give you food for thought and could help guide your business marketing activity in 2024.

1. Ensure your 2024 glass is always (at least) half full

Our first suggested resolution for 2024 relates to your mindset, rather than any particular activity you should be undertaking.

While it doesn’t need to reach the levels of continual over-optimism, being seen as a person who always keeps a positive outlook will be welcomed and responded to far more than if you simply give the impression of being reactive to, and driven by, events.

In what could be a challenging year from an economic and financial perspective, clients and maybe colleagues will have concerns, so it could pay dividends to be seen as the person who comes up with solutions rather than problems.

Overdoing the upbeat nature of your comms could be counter-productive, but if you focus on highlighting solutions you’ll be in a much better position to win the trust of both clients and prospects.

It’s likely to be a year of change, so why not look to be the person who sees the opportunities change can bring?

An effective marketing strategy can be invaluable when you adopt this mindset, as it will enable you to be flexible and adaptable and, as a result, make it easier to take advantage of any opportunities that arise.

2. Make 2024 the year everyone knows about you and your business

A key part of your marketing strategy will be finding out as much as you can about your clients and prospects, but it’s also important to look at the other side of the coin and tell them about you.

So, a positive resolution for 2024 is to look to personalise your communication so it tells people who you are, and what your business is looking to do.

For example, your company website is a key window into your business and is often the first thing prospective clients will look at when they’re searching for an adviser. So, take some time to ensure it correctly reflects who you are, and your business proposition.

One simple way to humanise it is with a “meet the team” section that outlines who everyone is, what they look like, and what their interests are.

Likewise, if you send out a regular newsletter to clients and prospects, it’s worth taking the trouble to ensure the content reflects your own attitudes and thoughts rather than simply “vanilla” content that could come from any business.

Of course, if you don’t already send a newsletter to your clients, you should think seriously about doing one.

Then, when it comes to telling everyone about who you are, don’t hide your light under a bushel.

So, if you’re Chartered, make sure that’s prominent on your website. Similarly, if your business is highly rated on VouchedFor you should be telling everyone about it. It makes it clear that you’re committed to what you’re doing for the right reasons.

By showing your passion, you can endear yourself and your business to the clients you want to attract.

Finally, if you have awards, be sure to publicise, them, with an explanatory note about what you had to do to win them.

3. Review your marketing plans, or make a plan if you don’t have one

For many of your clients, their annual review will be a key moment in the year when it comes to planning their financial future.

The reassurance they’ll get from knowing they’re on track to meet their goals will give them valuable peace of mind. If changes are required, they’ll be similarly reassured that issues have been identified and addressed.

In the same way, you can provide yourself with the same confidence by regularly reviewing your marketing plan. It’s not imperative to do this at the start of the calendar year, but inking in a date in your calendar, and sticking to it, is a positive step forward.

Of course, if you don’t have a plan, or you do but it’s just a series of half-formed ideas and aspirations, then we’d respectfully suggest you resolve to make putting one together a top priority for 2024.

Having a well-structured plan will ensure your marketing efforts are focused on clear goals and objectives and will help you develop trust and boost your reputation among both existing clients and potential new ones.

It then becomes far easier for you to monitor your progress and be proactive, rather than simply reacting to events as they happen.

4. Get help if you need it

Having read this far and taken on board some of the suggestions you’ve read about, you likely have a shopping list of marketing-related activities to start working through.

With only so many hours in the day, and a business to run, the time you’ll need to go through them may well be hard to find.

This brings you to our final recommended resolution, which is to ask for help from an experienced financial services marketing company.

2024 is likely to be a challenging year of change, so you should be looking to work with a marketing agency that knows how best to implement strategy changes and adapt to changing markets quickly.

So, whether you want help putting together a marketing plan, drafting newsletter content, or upgrading your website, get in touch to see how we can help.

You can email us at hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call us on 0115 8965 300.