What do you and/or your brand look like to the outside world? Two sets of decisions you make now will have a profound effect on how the world sees you in 2013. Where will you leave digital footprints and where will you leave footprints in the more traditional sense?
Your footprints
A month ago when I had the idea for this post, it was going to be entitled “You Digital Footprint.” The problem with that title is that it would have limited the conversation to digital and the word footprint is static. Footprints, on the other hand, are dynamic and are ongoing throughout the year both online and in the more traditional world.
The balance of this post I’m going to present as a series of questions you should probably be asking yourself as the start of 2013 rapidly closes in on us.
Digital footprints
Are you going to change or tweak your overarching online strategy in 2013?
Will you redesign your web presence?
- If so, why?
- To sell more?
- To increase email subscriptions?
- To clarify your message?
- To improve user experience when visiting your site?
Engagement (social media)
- Will you spend more or less time on social media?
- Again, if so, why?
- Is Twitter a worthwhile place to spend time?
- Is Facebook a worthwhile place to spend time? (you get the idea, same question for – LinkedIn, Pinterest, Path, etc…)
- And what of photo sharing in 2013? Will you leave footprints in that space?
- If so, will you use Instagram or Twitter’s new features? Facebook?
What will your email marketing approach be?
- Will your message be sales oriented or education oriented?
- Perhaps a balance of the two?
- Who will you send it to?
- How frequently?
- How will you encourage your subscribers to share the message and help grow your list? (Spreading your footprints, so to speak.)
Traditional footprints
Where will you go geographically in 2013 and who will you spend time with?
Customers
- Which customers will you call?
- Which customers will you visit?
- In both cases – why?
- To maintain relationships?
- To increase your business with them?
Speaking engagements
- Will you accept any public speaking opportunity?
- Will you go into debt (or just spend your own money) to speak?
- Or (as I’ll be doing) will you begin to focus your speaking on revenue generating opportunities?
- Will you search out the audience opportunities that will maximize the footprints you leave?
Conferences and Trade Shows
- Will you keep going to the same shows and conferences you always do?
- Or will you look for new opportunities to spread your footprints?
- Will you look for shows and conferences that expand the opportunity for your existing business platform?
Traditional Print
- Will you utilize traditional print mediums to reach new audiences?
- Can you find ways to use print to drive folks from your traditional to digital footprints?
- Are there folks you might be able to best reach with print and will you do that?
And the other foot falls …
In a perfect world, I’ll be striving to leave more footprints in the right places. So that might not mean leaving more footprints in 2013, but it will mean the ones you leave will have more impact. I’d suggest striving to reach your core audience (or raving fans) and providing them with compelling reasons to help spread the word and thus multiply your efforts.
Mix things up a bit and get outside your comfort zone. We’re taking a hard look at the conferences, trade shows and speaking engagements we will spend money to participate in next year. These are expensive propositions so a return on investment is essential. Leaving footprints strictly for the sake of leaving footprints doesn’t cut it when the dollar outlay is high.
And now it’s your turn: Where will you leave footprints in 2013?
Wow JIm! You really have me thinking early on a Monday! That’s a lot of great questions.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in 2012 is that scaling isn’t all good. There’s nothing wrong with working smarter, but that doesn’t mean I stop working hard either. Especially when customer experience is involved. And I’m okay with that.
I’m going into the new year with a different perspective on what scaling means to me. I’m going to write more about it in a future post especially after having a horrible experience as a customer of a company who apparently doesn’t invest in customer service.
I know there’s a happy medium and I’m going to find it.
Berni – It’s a lot of questions with no answers. I’m sitting here looking at the list working on answering them for my own business. Then, as you start to answer them you realize how they are all intertwined. That’s when it gets fun. 🙂