Five Marketing and Revenue Growth Resolutions for 2019
We each have our own ways of setting goals and resolutions. Like many of your peers, you may do this exercise at the beginning of the year. Perhaps you are someone who sets and monitors goals on a periodic basis, with no set pattern. Or, you could be one of those who eschews the whole goal setting process entirely. Regardless, I humbly offer below what I intend to achieve in 2019. Note that I use the word “intend” not “try” because intend is a word that connotes certainty.
- Prioritize revenue growth. By this, I do not mean revenue growth for Fusion Marketing Partners (although this is always good), but rather, revenue growth for our esteemed clients. It is not the activities we undertake that are most important to client success but the results that we support/deliver in terms of boosting revenue and increasing company value. It’s a simple formula: If our clients make more money, we make more money.
- Develop closer relationships with clients, partners and colleagues. Yes, we are in the B2B Marketing and revenue consulting business. However, fundamentally, we are in the people business, and the better I, and the rest of the team, communicate with, and treat people, the better we will do, financially and otherwise.
- Find more ways to help. One of the great things about a long career on both the client side and agency side is that I have experienced a lot of marketing, sales and business scenarios. Some of these have been successful, and others not-so-much. Either way, the lessons are valuable and I am happy to utilize them to help keep clients (and sometimes non-clients) on a good path.
- Focus on deep work. If you are a multi-tasking, distractible person like me, do yourself a favor and read Deep Work by Cal Newport. Based on tons of evidence, the book shatters the myth about how multi-tasking produces great results. The fact is that intense focus on high-priority tasks, with no email, phone or in-person interruptions allowed, almost always produces better results. One of the best examples of this comes from the book The Innovators, where Paul Allen is talking about his co-founder, Bill Gates: “Where I was curious to study everything in sight, Bill would focus on one task at a time with total discipline,” said Allen. “You could see it when he programmed. He would sit with a marker clenched in his mouth, tapping his feet and rocking; impervious to distraction.” Whether it is Bill Gates, Chris Ryan, or you, focusing on fewer priorities with more intense focus, can have a big payoff.
- Continue learning. I’ve always resolved to be one of those people who have say 25 years of experience, not the same year repeated 25 times. I’ve never claimed to know it all, but I do read constantly, follow what the experts are doing, and am never content to stop learning. One of the reasons I write and present so much is because it forces me to stay on top of my profession. I assume that a number of smart people follow me and I don’t want them saying, “I’ve heard this all before.”
By the way, someone who artfully practices my goal of developing closer relationships is noted B2B marketing (and so much more) expert Ruth Stevens, who mentioned me and nine others in a post titled, The 10 most fascinating people in B2B marketing in 2018. I was appreciative of Ruth’s kind words, but even more important – it was a great reminder of the need for me to acknowledge those who have been instrumental in my own career.
I hope you establish and achieve some meaningful goals/intentions for yourself this year. If I can assist in any way, please reach out to me at cryan@fusionmarketingpartners.com.
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