Welcome to 2009.

With my impressive powers of deduction, I have surmised that next year will be 2010… Yikes. So my question is, when 2010 rolls around, where do you want your business to be?

Of course if you’re paying any attention to the media, you may have noticed things in the marketplace these days are potentially challenging at best. People often ask me “Is the downturn affecting your business?” I usually respond (somewhat coyly) with, “Actually, we’ve decided not to participate in the downturn.”

In reality, our business is doing better than ever. We are blessed to have a great list of aggressive clients who also see this market as we do: an opportunity. Our current core clients realize that today is not the time to sit back and just “see how things go.” That’s a great way to watch your competitors blow past you. Today is also not the time to just throw money at all things marketing. Now is the time for calculated, planned action.

Stepping up in this market requires choosing to be bold. 2009 will be what we choose to make of it. And the best way to choose a good outcome for 2009 is to take some time to think about it. Here’s the most grossly over-simplified, step-by-step solution I can offer.

1. Choose to be bold. Choose to succeed in 2009.
2. Set bold business goals. Review them daily.
3. Create marketing strategy (and budget) to accomplish those goals.
4. Align marketing tactics to support those strategies.
5. Create a calendar-based plan to follow your strategies.
6. Review your progress regularly, and adjust accordingly.

You may have noticed I didn’t mention positioning, design, branding, or interactive media? There’s no mention of establishing your brand’s voice or look and feel? All of those things are very important, and I’ll touch on those in the following months. However, the first thing I want you to do this year is to choose to succeed. Be bold.

Are you up to the challenge?