Nieuwe wegen naar de oude aanpak in het nieuwe jaar

Met ons in januari denken veel mensen 'met het oude, met het nieuwe'. Of het nu iets is dat zo eenvoudig is als nieuwe kleding of als een nieuw leven in een nieuw leven, het begin van een nieuw jaar is een tijd vaak inspireert verandering in veel mensen. Het kan een idee compleet schrappen dat op dat moment een goed idee leek, of helemaal opnieuw beginnen met een project dat gewoon niet in de goede richting beweegt. In beide situaties zijn er waarschijnlijk kwaliteitsideeën en tijd die eraan wordt besteed, en het kan zonde zijn om het geheel te verwoesten.

In plaats van een complete revisie, kan het de moeite waard zijn om te blijven vasthouden aan de oude aanpak, alleen met een nieuw perspectief. Je weet wat werkt, en je weet wat niet werkt. Als u bijvoorbeeld uw marketingplan voornamelijk op e-mail richt, maar alle anderen richten zich op sociale media als het hart van hun marketing, lijkt het misschien de natuurlijke ontwikkeling om dat ook te doen. Maar u weet e-mail, u weet hoe het voor u werkt en het kan een groot risico zijn om volledig van richting te veranderen van e-mail op basis van sociale media. Het zou dus logisch zijn in plaats van nieuw te beginnen om een ​​nieuwe aanpak te kiezen voor hoe u e-mails, uw inhoud of uw ontwerp stuurt. Maar hoe?

Revitaliseren zonder een volledige rebranding te ondergaan

One thing that many companies do is decide that they need a rebranding, either as a way to get new publicity, freshen up their appearance, or spend a lot of money to end up in the same place in a year or two. Sure some companies are in serious need of rebranding, a full on overhaul, but what the ones in the middle often don’t realize is that it is possible to simply revitalize you brand without entirely starting from scratch. Some companies make revitalization an annual event, that allows people to recognize them but also know that they keep things fresh.

Consider new photos on your website and in collateral you regularly print anyway. Clean up clutter on your statements to make the vital information obvious. You can even consider rearranging the office to give people a new flow and to freshen things up. Revitalizing can be simple, it lets people know that you’re actively involved in your company and its appearance. Companies with uniforms can introduce a new color or style, or you can consider answering the phone in a different way. Revitalization can be as subtle or as extreme as you’d like it to be, but it can be simple.

Determine Various Variables and Target One At a Time

If you feel like you need a change from something you already do as the new year gets rolling, rather than completely up and starting something new, look at the variables in your current approach and consider changing one at a time to see if you get the results you desire. That will give you a measurable way to see what works and what doesn’t. If your normal email marketing used to get more hits than it does, that doesn’t mean that you need to scrap email marketing completely in favor of something else. Maybe your target demographic has evolved, so you need to target new peoples. Maybe your email design is looking tired, and could use a refresh.

This doesn’t apply simply to marketing, it can be any part of what you do and what you have to offer. If you can’t isolate a single item or two that is adversely affecting the effectiveness of your campaign, you’re going to have a hard time coming up with the best approach. Maybe you’ve sent annual appeal letters so often that people just throw them away. If you switch that entirely from a paper campaign to online, you’re changing every variable thus making it harder to compare apples to apples. On the other hand, if you change from a standard mailed letter to a brightly colored brochure and remit, and see larger results, then those results are easier to measure.

Trends are Cyclical-Consider Ideas of the Past

Chances are the way you’ve done things has evolved over the years, and you used plenty of ideas at one point that have fallen by the wayside. But just because they weren’t effective five or ten years ago, doesn’t mean that they won’t be affective now. People like different, people like nostalgia. Between those two things alone, revisiting a trend of the past could just give you the change you need. If something stands out among all of the branding and companies out there that seemingly do the same thing, that is likely going to be successful, even if it is a recycled idea from years ago.

Trends are cyclical, look at clothing and cars. Trends come back, and get freshened up for the new decade. There was a time that getting a letter in the mail was ordinary, but if you got an email from someone, that was awesome. But now people are so inundated with emails and texts and social media, that a letter in the mail is once again an exciting thing. Look for trends with such cycles and chances are you can take a new approach to something that was once a success, and make it success again in the new year.

So just because an idea has been done before, or was a trend of the past, it doesn’t mean that idea no longer holds value. There is value to be found in what you already know works, as long as you’re willing to look at it from a different perspective, thus allowing it to be freshened up and ready for use in the new year. Complete overhauls are sometimes necessary, but before making the plunge it only makes sense to look at old ideas with a new set of eyes in the new year.

About the Author

I am an entrepreneur, business consultant, investor & developer from New York. I create brands & help others build theirs. You can connect with me on Twitteror Instagram.

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