With that said, here are some things we hope you’ve taken into consideration when finishing up your marketing plan for 2009:

1. Collaborate with the sales team.  Have you met with the VP of Sales and discussed the objectives for 2009?  Have you attended the sales meetings on a regular basis?  Do you know how the pipeline works and do you have a written agreement with the VP of Sales that describes exactly what qualifies as a lead from the marketing department? This way, you can avoid the conversation in July when you say you generated 2,000 leads and they say you generated 20.
2. Have a customer retention and growth plan.  Don’t even think about how you’re going to attract new business until you’ve figured out how you’re going to keep what you already have.  You’ve already made the major investment it takes to capture the customer.  Now you’ll want to develop a customer communication and retention plan that cross-sells and upsells your services to the existing customer base.  What is the lifetime value of your customer today?  How can you increase that number?
3. If you haven’t already, start developing your social media strategy. It can be overwhelming when you’re presented with all the different options for social media.   Blogging, podcasting, twittering, the list doesn’t end.  So don’t worry yet about what tools you’ll be using.  First start thinking about who you want to talk to, what is important to that audience, and what information you can share that will bring VALUE to your target audience and help them connect with you on a one-to-one basis.  Figure out the strategy first and then research the best tools you need to do the job.
4. Figure out how you’ll measure everything.  Do you have a CRM system yet?  Are you tracking your online analytics?  Do you have an inhouse mailing list?  Do you know how much revenue next year will come from existing customers versus net new business?  Do you know how many raw prospects it takes to develop a decent lead that ultimately ends up in a sale?  If you can’t measure your performance and justify your budget then you really are just a walking piece of overhead.
5. Develop three to five key marketing objectives for the year and put them on your whiteboard. Then make sure every activity somehow relates back to those key objectives.  Keep it simple and straightforward.  The key is consistency.

Finally, take the time to network with your colleagues.  There is so much to learn, the shared wisdom and collaboration that comes from meeting with your peers is invaluable.  It is easy to get so wrapped up in actually DOING the marketing for your company that you forget to look outside for fresh ideas, validation of your own and inspiration on how you can become better at your craft.