Welcome to the Year of the Tiger.
The Cincinnati Bengals will meet the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI (56). The two teams will square off on February 13 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, CA. Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his tree stump on Wednesday (Groundhog Day) to see his shadow and predict six more weeks of winter. COVID lingers on as new variants threaten. Sabers continue to rattle on the eastern border that Ukraine shares with Russia. The XXIV Winter Olympic Games start today in Beijing…
This is already shaping up to be an interesting year.
There will be other challenges and surprises that emerge as the year unfolds.
So, as business professionals, what can we do? A lot of these events are out of our control.
In December, we talked about looking back on the year and taking stock. Did we hit our goals? If we didn’t, then we need to ask why? If we did, then we need to raise the bar. If we didn’t have goals, then we need to address that issue and create SMART goals for the new year.
This process of introspection is one half of the strategic planning process. We need to start out by performing an internal analysis. We need to identify the resources and capabilities that we have to work with. In particular, we want to identify core competencies – valuable capabilities that are unique to our organization. We also want to identify weaknesses that are unique to our organization.
The second part of the process is to perform an external analysis. An external analysis takes into account political, economic, sociocultural, technological, ecological, and legal undercurrents that impact the business environment. We opened this discussion by highlighting some current elements in the news – there are many more. This time of year, the Federal Reserve, and other business/trade organizations, publish forecasts for the year. This can be an important (and free) source of information.
The results of our internal analysis and external analysis come together in a SWOT analysis. We use the internal analysis to highlight our most important strengths and weaknesses. We use the results of our external analysis to highlight the most relevant opportunities and threats from the environment. This provides the foundation for a plan, that leverages our strengths (core competencies), plays away from our weaknesses, capitalizes on opportunities, while avoiding credible threats. The plan is then captured in a collection of SMART goals that can be used to guide our progress in the coming year.
You will find tips to help in this newsletter and in the Direct Mail Journal (www.directmailjournal.com).
You can be sure, that as your dedicated business partner, Zairmail (www.zairmail.com) will be here to help. Just reach out to us if there is anything we can do. Our business is based on your success. Harness the grace and power of the Tiger in 2022.
Does Storytelling Work for Postcard Campaigns?
Storytelling in marketing campaigns serves to better connect you with your customers. It works like any other human connection. Storytelling is a way to get to know a person better, in this case, it’s a way for customers to get to know your business. When a customer is truly invested in an organization, their loyalty is always with that brand and they feel a part of that community too. The strength of this cannot be underestimated! So how can you use storytelling in your direct mail postcard campaign and what are the general do’s and don’ts?
When you’ve reflected on your business performance from the previous year, done the math and looked for patterns in your finances, you’re ready to focus on new opportunities for growth. These are the simplest steps to successful strategic planning and we’re going to share a very easy tool that can help you with this area.
Zairmail (www.zairmail.com) is the fastest and easiest way to send (real) postal mail. Give us a call anytime at 888.898.0066, we would be happy to help with your direct mail needs.
