Looking forward to a new year of success
2020 was kind of like that roommate you had back in college. It was fun for the first few weeks, then you realized they were a mooching, snoring, untidy, perpetual hot mess. Then you realized you’d be living with them for a whole year unless you did something drastic.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t petition for a 2020 room transfer. We just had to deal with it and make the most of it. Here we are on the other side and we can all collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Life still isn’t perfect, the world still isn’t utopia. But, hey, it never was. We can just focus on being grateful for our health, our loved ones and the fact that the earth is still spinning through space and the sun hasn’t gone supernova yet. Work with what you got, right?
Now is not the time to look back. Like Orpheus in the underworld, we must keep our eyes forward lest Hades take our last remaining treasures away. We are going to look back at some point and count all the lessons learned, the blessings in disguise, laugh it off. But right now we just can’t. We. Just. Can’t. Too close. Too soon. Give it time to heal.
While we’re stepping out of the muck of 2020, there is work to be done. So, let’s focus on the future and trust that 2021 will make up for a year that made us feel like we were trapped in a dystopian time warp. Let’s focus on building our businesses and ushering in a new era of success and prosperity.
Focus on branding in 2021
With the major amount of downtime in 2020, many businesses took the opportunity to address their old look. Quarantine gave us plenty of time to give a good audit to our design assets – our brand, logo, website, social, etc. Maybe you noticed that your website could use a redesign or your logo could be rebranded to better capture the essence of the business you’ve become.
There’s an old saying: when fishermen (fisherpeople) can’t go to sea, they repair their nets. Think of your design and branding assets like nets. Are they capturing the customers and clients your looking for? If not, it’s probably time to update your look to greet 2021 and the years to come with your best face.
Focus on your plan for 2021
How did business change for you in 2020? We’re willing to bet that it transformed much of how you operate, what your clients need and what your business needs to succeed in the post-pandemic world. It’s time for a good hard look at your business strategy. Bust out an ol’ SWOT analysis, set new goals, review analytics, look at your key performance indicators, etc. Look at your business strategy as if you were a stranger to it and be honest. Is it going to cut it in 2021?
We’d be willing to bet (all or nothing!) that you need to revise your strategy. So, freshen it up – create a new strategic plan that speaks to the new market and the new world. It may even be in your best interest to just start from scratch and give your business plan a complete overhaul.
Focus on your content for 2021
Even though you might have relatively the same target market and demographics, in 2021 you’re going to be speaking to new customers. Your new marketing messages and content will be addressed to humans who had their lives upended, saw a country divided, saw a global pandemic and saw loss and trauma. There’s no way to soften the blow – we all got collectively messed up by 2021. But we’re adapting, coping the best we can, and people are still in need of goods and services. Just make sure your content speaks to the transformed minds and emotions of your customers.
We’re not talking about working through our PTSD in your blogs and Instagram content. It’s more of a shift in tone. It’s more of a subtle move to compassionate content that speaks to the psychographics of your audience. Your brand’s voice shouldn’t read the same way it read in 2019. This is a new era and your content should reflect that.
Need help looking away from the garbage fire that was 2020? We recommend a good bottle of scotch. But if you want more than a deep sleep and a hangover, we’ve got everything you need to make sure 2021 is a banner year for your business.