There's an old folk tradition that claims that what happens in the first 12 days of January may spell out what happens the rest of the year. If that's the case, I am very happy to report that 2015 looks pretty good. I recently started work on a new project for an industry I have never worked with, at least not professionally—wine! It’s a great change of pace.
How is your January going? Are you getting into your groove? If not, take a look below. I have some suggestions for you. Also, if you are looking to up your blogging game, you may want to read my Blogging Resolutions blog post.
Having reflected on 2014, I have decided to suspend the How to Write Your Blog workshop for now. Although it has been well received and people have enjoyed taking it, the workshop became very hard to promote and thus, had reduced attendance in 2014. I will still offer it “on demand” and will be doing something regarding blogging this year, so stay tuned.
Lastly, a reminder that if you or a colleague is looking for writing/editing work, I am always grateful for your referral.
Best wishes for a productive year ahead,
Deborah
Forecasting trends? Stop! Analyze instead.
At the beginning of any year, there’s a lot of emphasis placed on forecasts. What will happen in the coming year that you should stay ahead of? What trends will appear? And though it’s good to try to predict the future, it's often a losing proposition. What you can look at with confidence at is your previous year’s performance. You can learn more about your business and how it is doing by looking at what already happened.
Here’s what to look at:
Sales/revenue. How did it compare to 2013? What were the biggest and smallest sources of income? How much work did you do to acquire new customers? What efforts (networking, word-of-mouth, marketing) worked the best?
Website/blog performance: Google Analytics has a trove of useful information, including demographics. You will see where your readers are coming from, how they are accessing your website, what pages they are reading and lots more. Here’s an excellent article on ProBlogger about how to pull this important information.
Social media analytics: Twitter has made analytics available free to everyone. If you use Twitter, you should familiarize yourself with the data. You will see the demographics of who is following you, what posts achieved the most traction, time of day, etc. And if you are a Facebook user, you have access to Insights.
For example, when analyzing Google Analytics I found that the lowest bounce rate compared to source of website visit was this newsletter. The highest bounce rate was from organic search. This means that I will need to devote some time to search engine optimization, and also that distributing this newsletter is worth the effort. That is not a forecast, but rather a decision based on analyzing performance. Isn’t that better than responding to what other people think will be the thing to do this year?
Communications tip: Update bios now
It’s the beginning of a new year. Does your bio reflect what you accomplished in 2014? If not, take the time to update it. Have you been promoted? Have you acquired new skills or responsibilities? Have you gotten any new certifications? Does your current bio reflect your current interests? Remember you have bios in several places, including social media sites, your company website, any marketing materials and so forth. Make sure your 2015 bio carries throughout. And while you’re at it, when was the last time you had a professional portrait taken? If it’s been more than five years, you may want to budget time and money for a photographer.
Workshops and presentations
There are no workshops or presentations currently scheduled.
I am available for customized on-site and one-on-one specialized training on blog writing. Please contact me if you are interested in obtaining details.
Deborah Brody Marketing Communications Services
▪ Writing and editing of marketing materials ▪ Communications and social media consulting ▪ Communications and social media audits ▪ Customized blog training and workshops
You are receiving this newsletter either because you signed up for it , we have done business in the past twelve months or you are a trusted colleague or friend. If you do not want to continue to receive this newsletter, please use the unsubscribe option below.
No part of this newsletter may be reproduced without permission.
