4 Tips To Keep Your Small Business Focused in 2015

We’re already halfway through the first month of 2015. Exciting? Yes. Scary that it’s gone by so quickly? Of course.

But as you settle down into the new year and those new business goals you set at the end of 2014, it’s time to ask yourself one question: Are you sticking with your plans?

Most business owners like to kick off the new year with the best of intentions: set new goals, gain a clear vision for your business, and restore that motivational spirit to help you achieve it all. But if you’re finding that your once-clear vision is beginning to blur at the edges, don’t worry. It happens to the best of us.

Fortunately, it is possible to create a resolution and maintain it. Here are four tips to keep you and your small business focused over the next 12 months:

1. Stick To Your Mission & Goals

While it’s easy to pick up new projects as the year goes on — a video with dancing ponies may be cute and trendy, for example — always ask yourself if it aligns with, or helps further, your mission and goals. This will ensure that you don’t end up devoting your time to projects that aren’t helping to move your business forward.

Concerned you might forget you goals? Consider writing them down or printing and taping them to your computer monitor — whatever you have to do to keep them top of mind.

Pro Tip: Send yourself an email reminder or set a calendar alert for a day in March to make sure you’re sticking to the course. Sometimes interrupting your workday is the best way to jolt your memory and encourage you to take action.

2. Delight Your Customers

“Happy customer, happy life” might not have a nice ring to it, but business owners can learn a lot from the old marital motto.

No matter what plans you have to grow your business, at the end of the day, your success lies in the hands of your customers. So the next time you have a planning or brainstorming session, always keep the customer in mind.

Not sure how to get started? There are opportunities everywhere that can open the door for enhancing your customers’ experience. If you’ve already committed to doing something, such as creating valuable content, sending targeted emails, or boosting your activity on social media, that’s great!

Maybe it’s time to try something new to thrill your customers, like establishing a membership program (which also helps to grow your email list) or hosting fun events to build deeper connections. While you can’t always predict whether your customers will love something or not, sometimes taking a smart risk is the only way to find out.

Pro Tip: When was the last time you sent a handwritten note to a customer? Surprise loyal or inactive customers with a personal note – not only does this show you took the time to tend to a single customer, it’ll make them feel incredibly valued as well.

3. Put Data To Good Use

How do you know if your website or email series is actually working? By reviewing the data.

Fortunately, it’s not as complicated as you might think — you just have to know what to look for. Some of the key analytic reports to review on a frequent basis include those for email, social media and your website.

Want to know if your new emails are driving traffic to specific product pages on your website? Checking your email analytics can help you answer that question, and possibly shed light on issues you were unaware of. Perhaps a link was broken or leading to the wrong webpage — whatever it is, simply knowing there’s something wrong in the first place is the first step to fixing it!

When you’re reviewing your analytics, you gain the advantage of being able to make swift changes or improvements that can help you move towards your goals and grow your business. If you don’t, you could end up wasting months on a project that isn’t performing as well as you thought.

Pro Tip: There are a ton of reports you can review, but you don’t have to measure everything. Instead, choose three metrics to focus on as you get started. When reviewing web analytics, for example, check your unique traffic, page views, and sales. Want to track your emails? Review your open rates, bounce rates, and traffic to your site.

4. Tune In To Industry Trends

You never know when a new commodity might hit the shelves and completely change the way your customers interact with your products. So it’s important to stay up to date on industry news to keep you prepared.

While you can’t always predict what game-changer will pop up down the road, being aware of its existence will allow you to keep your business relevant.

What are some of the best ways to stay up to date within your industry?

If you don’t already follow or subscribe to relevant trade publications, research the top ones and start reading them now. Subscribe to their email updates so you get the top stories delivered right into your inbox. Or, follow them on social media to get of-the-minute updates. To ensure you build a strong habit, devote 10 to 15 minutes a day to reading relevant news.

Additionally, keep an eye out for trends within your clients’ industries as well. This will not only help you learn more about their industry, but also position you to make strong recommendations for ways they can elevate their business.

Pro Tip: Sign up for Google Alerts to get email updates on anything you might want to know about, such as your competitors and key words and phrases. You can also follow news websites or your competitors on an RSS feed, such as Feedly.

So, are you ready to achieve those goals? Awesome. In a few months, we’ll check back to see how things are going and share more tips to help you keep up the great work!

4 Tips To Keep Your Small Business Focused in 2015