Executing a marketing plan is like keeping a New Year’s resolution. It always starts off with a bang and a determination like nothing could ever knock you off track. 

But, let’s be realistic. According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology, only 64 percent of Americans will make it past one month of their New Year’s resolution.

In the business world, it’s worse. Top management can only rely on colleagues and employees to execute their strategies 59 percent of the time, according to Donald Stull’s research for the Harvard Business Review. To top it all off, studies by the Bain Consulting Group show that 7 of 8 companies fail to execute their strategy.

The marketing plan is a critical document to have for an organization’s future success. It outlines how a company plans to reach its target audiences, communicate its products/services, and effectively grow the business and its bottom line. So, it’s important that your 2016 marketing plan doesn’t fall through the cracks so you too can achieve success.

Here are four tips you can use in executing your marketing plan.

#1: Keep a schedule
A marketing plan should come standard with a timeline for its execution, but that timeline is often very general and could be labeled only by quarter or month. An effective schedule should be broken down week-by-week. Giving an assignment a deadline is one way to put emphasis throughout the company that these marketing tasks need to be completed and they need to be finished on time. As soon as you slip once and let an activity get pushed because it wasn’t completed on time, you open a Pandora’s Box for everything else to be delayed. Set the precedent early and often that this marketing plan is to be completed on schedule.

#2: Set realistic goals
You want to double your sales, increase followers to your LinkedIn page by 75 percent, and do all of these other things that, if you think objectively, probably won’t happen. Your marketing plan may end up a failure just because you didn’t hit the out-of-this-world goals you set at the beginning of the year. Take a look at the goals you’ve set (if you didn’t set goals, that’s a bigger problem), and ask yourself: Is the time, money, and personnel we’ve allocated to marketing realistically able to achieve these goals?

#3: Hold each other accountable
Someone in the company needs to be responsible for your marketing plan. Whether that’s the marketing director, the company president, or someone else, there needs to be a degree of accountability. When something doesn’t get done, who is the person you turn to and ask “why?” Accountability doesn’t mean fear of losing a job because that blog post didn’t go out on time, but it does mean that someone should be responsible for that blog post not going out on time, and he/she should be actively finding solutions to remedy the situation. The last thing you want to have is someone say, “That’s not my job.”

#4: Celebrate milestones
It’s part of human nature to want to feel successful. No employees come to work every day because they want to feel unappreciated and like they haven’t done their job well. It’s important that whether you do it privately or publicly, celebrate milestones within your company, especially in marketing. Did you just hit 500, 1,000, or 2,000 followers on Twitter? Make a company announcement. Did you hit your quarterly sales goal a month early? Say something in a staff meeting. Did your billboard increase direct traffic to the website more than expected? Tell your marketing director if he/she is doing a good job. It seems tedious and petty to celebrate the little things, but that keeps the momentum up, morale high, and employees motivated to continue reaching for success.

Best of luck in executing your 2016 marketing plan.          

Zachary Clark is director of business development at Cowley Associates in Syracuse. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and recently completed his MBA, with a focus in marketing, from Syracuse University. Contact him by email at zclark@cowleyweb.com or call (315) 475-8453 ext. 231.

We all have made them. We all have broken them. New Year’s resolutions are a change in behavior, a new beginning, or a healthy lifestyle. You name it, most people have resolved to make changes over the years, but what makes people actually stick with their resolutions?  

Change is often difficult or challenging for some people. Sometimes the changes are too drastic or too far-fetched. 

Too many small-business owners have become stuck in the same old, same old, due to lack of time or resources. You might be OK with what you are doing with the business, but maybe you are not. So what do you do? Well, you make a resolution. How do you keep that resolution? The answer is simple — by making your changes small, obtainable, and realistic. 

Set your goals for your new year. When considering the goals to set, see if they are making the way of doing something more cost effective, increasing revenues, and/or boosting customer awareness. And more importantly, ask yourself — will you be able to stick with the resolutions this year? If they are small and obtainable, the answer is probably yes. 

Some sample goals for the New Year in running a business are:

Goal #1: Utilize social media
Why social media?  Simple — it’s easy and free. Most people have access to it and most people are familiar with some form of social media. It does not matter what platform you use — Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Slack, or LinkedIn — just use something. Take advantage of it.

Goal #2: Update your website or create a website 
If you haven’t done it in awhile, take the opportunity to do so now. Tell your story about your journey from the beginning until now. People love following stories or hearing what path people have taken in this world that has led to one place or another. A website can be a simple way to give the public the information about you and your business. Reality sells. Use that to help sell your services or products. Then always make sure to link to your social media.

Goal #3: Join a networking group
Meet other small-business owners through networking groups. Others who are in the trenches with you will sometimes be the best sources for ideas for revamping your business or spreading the word about your venture. Referrals and word of mouth are most often the best way to generate sales. Make connections, create partnerships, and rely on your peers to help drive business your way. One Million Cups is a great resource in Syracuse where small-business owners come together to give suggestions, advice, and offer mentorship to other small-business owners. Any little bit that you are seen in the community helps to make people aware of you and your business. 

Goal #4: Go to small-business assistance events
Free resources are available everywhere for small businesses. You just have to make yourself aware of them. Seek out your local economic-development agencies and see what events they have planned for small businesses. Sign up to be on their mailing lists, check out their websites and watch their social media for event listings. There are always classes that are being offered through local resources such as QuickBooks, marketing assistance, and social-media training sessions. Use your local resources; they are normally free and can be well worth your time and energy. 

Goal #5: Give back to your community
Giving back feels good. Many times, we as small-business owners are asking for sales, promotion of our products, and referrals. Donate your time, your facility, your expertise, or whatever you feel comfortable offering. It doesn’t have to be a monetary act; it could just be a symbol or gesture, but do it through your business name. Actions speak louder than words, and if you are willing to help and support others in your community, most  of the time the favor is returned by others in the purchase of your service or product. Putting your business on the radar as one that cares about its community speaks volumes to potential clients. 

Making resolutions offers a great way to better yourself and your business. Take advantage of this time of year to try something new, reinvent your business image, or implement a new task daily that you haven’t used before. Resolve to better your business in the New Year. It’s a fresh start. 

Melissa Zomro Davis, a former small-business owner in the equine industry, is a New York State-certified business advisor at the Small Business Development Center at Onondaga Community College. Contact her at m.l.zomro@sunyocc.edu or call (315) 498.6066.