19 New Year's Resolutions for Business Owners in 2019
The start of a new year means looking ahead to the future to with optimism and excitement. You can use this time as a kick start to make changes, work harder, and grow your business. If you are a small business owner, it's the perfect time to asses what worked last year, what failed, and what resolutions you can make to find more success in 2019.
Here are 19 New Year’s resolutions for business owners to give you inspiration for what you can accomplish in 2019.
1. Make Sure Your Website Is Secure
Almost 70% of customers don’t trust brands to handle their personal information securely. It’s up to you to win over your customers with a secure website. Invest in a secure site audit to look for potential flaws and take steps to close these security gaps. The last thing you want this year is a data security breach that ruins your reputation. (Note: If you don't have an SSL certificate on your site, it's probably not as secure as you think.
Recommended Reading: Small Business Website Security: What You Need to Know
2. Update Your Website Design
Does your website look great for 2012 but terrible for 2019? Set aside part of your budget to update your website design or site layout this year. While you’re at it, make sure your pages are also mobile-friendly so you can capture the majority of traffic that comes from smartphones.
3. Update Your Business Photos to Keep Content Fresh
Along with updating your website, check the last time you updated your site and branded photos. If you keep using the same images year after year, then it’s time for a change. Set a goal to update your photos at least quarterly to keep your social and site content fresh.
4. Commit to Creating Regular Blog Content
Many business owners set out to maintain their blogs, which immediately fall by the wayside as soon as work becomes busy. Set a goal to publish on your blog regularly (even if it is only once per month) so you can reap SEO benefits and keep your customers informed.
Recommended Reading: Why Every Business Needs to Create Content & Start Acting Like a Media Company
5. Create More Strategic Event Promotions
If you host events throughout the year, then you need to develop a promotional package around each one. Set a New Year’s resolution to standardized your event marketing so each event gets enough exposure leading up to the big day.
6. Find a Professional Photographer for Your Events
If you want to gain social media traction around your events, don’t leave the photography up to whoever has their smartphone handy. Hire professional photographers to take care of the photos. The results will be better than you expect and you can use the images in your social and marketing materials.
7. Keep Growing Your Email List
Has your email list become stagnant over the past few years? Take time to purge emails of customers who don’t open your messages and focus on people who care about what you have to say. Develop campaigns to encourage people to give you their email addresses so you have a quick source to communicate important news with your customers.
Recommended Reading: 7 Simple Ways to Collect Customer Contact Information
8. Start Putting Your Email List To Use
Collecting email addresses isn’t always the problem for small businesses. However, using those email lists is. Set goals to send weekly or monthly eblasts to your customers with information about your business, industry news, hot tips, and upcoming events. You may be surprised by how many people care about what your email marketing newsletters have to say.
9. Segment Your Email List Based on Audience Interest
If you’re already adding, using, and purging your email lists, then it’s time to take the next steps. Use 2019 to segment your customers into target personas based on their behavior. Some people might just want event news while others want deals and discounts. Learn about your customers and develop multiple email campaigns around them.
10. Engage With Customers More on Social Media
It’s easy for brands to use social media as a broadcast system instead of an engagement platform. The top New Year’s resolution for business owners should be to respond to comments, reach out to brands, and join the conversation instead of setting up automatic posts and ignoring the results.
11. Explore New Social Channels for Your Brand
If your Twitter channel is getting stale or your Facebook reach isn’t what it was, consider other social media channels for your brand. Test out Instagram as a marketing tool or even Snapchat if your target audience is younger. This could open up new channels to grow your audience.
12. Monitor Customer Reviews and Respond to Them
Most New Year’s resolutions for business owners don’t have to take up your entire day. Some only take a few minutes. Set aside 10 minutes each day to review your customer reviews and comments and respond to them. These include reviews on Google, Yelp, Urbanspoon, and MyArea Network. These responses can build your brand standing in the community and prevent negative reviews from plaguing your profile pages.
13. Maintain Updated Content on Business Directory Profiles
Your brand is likely represented across the web, and if you don’t take control of it then you are going to lose business. Make it your goal to keep your hours, menu, photos, and NAP information updated on business directory profiles across the web. It’s not enough to just update Google and Facebook, you have to go where your customers are.
14. Start Tracking Website Data and Analytics
A shocking number of small business owners don’t look at their website and social media analytics. Almost 25% of marketers don’t even know if their leads are turning into sales, and 40% struggle to prove the ROI of their efforts. Make 2019 your year of data. Check to see what works and what doesn’t, and learn from what your audiences tell you.
Recommended Reading: Need Help Making Sense of You Business Data and Analytics? We Can Help.
15. Earn More Local Media Hits and Exposure
Dust off your public relations strategy and start reaching out to local media outlets, blogs, and local influencers. Brainstorm ways to attract organic media and attention on a small budget. This might be through news releases about your business or through free services and products for people to review. This media traffic can also benefit your SEO too when people link back to your website.
Recommended Reading: 7 Ways to Get Local Press Coverage for Your Business
16. Develop Connections With Social Media Influencers
Along with trying to earn more free media, work with local influencers to promote your brand. For a relatively small budget, you can pay these people to promote your business and expose your brand to their audiences. Your brand is promoted by a trusted source and you can reach new people each month.
17. Get Involved With Local Organizations and Events
One of the best news years resolutions for business owners is to get more involved. This could mean joining a networking group or supporting a nonprofit. This step increases your brand exposure while supporting the community around you -- meaning your resolution will help two-fold for the effort of only doing one thing.
18. Consider Outsourcing Marketing and Promotions Efforts
If you are serious about growing your business in 2019, look at your budget and think about outsourcing your marketing efforts. As a business owner, you can’t do it all. Outsourcing your marketing can free up your time and help you grow your business in ways you can’t do by yourself.
19. Create a MyArea Network For Business Account
If you want to get your business extra digital exposure in 2019 -- start by creating an account on MyArea Network. Our platform helps you improve visibility in your local community, target new nearby audiences, and launch powerful marketing campaigns, all by using one simple dashboard. Sign up today or contact us to get a free demo of our new and improved marketing platform.
Get Help With Your Business New Year's Resolutions
If you want to grow your brand in 2019, pick a handful of these New Year’s resolutions for business owners and try to stick to them. Then call MyArea Network for a free consultation to see how we can help you reach your goals faster and cheaper than if you try to accomplish it all on your own.
