If you’re looking to nail your marketing goals this year then you will quickly realise that marketing and selling is all about making a connection with people looking for solutions. And now that we (mostly) control most of the channels we advertise through such as your website, your Facebook page, your Instagram feed or your email database, it’s time to make the most of them.

Build some time into your day to ensure you have the fundamentals of your marketing sorted.

Are you making the most of the opportunities to market your business?

Here’s a checklist to get you started and help you nail your marketing goals this year:

1. Brand – What makes you different? A strong brand can make you memorable and easier to sell. Write a one-sentence description for your business. What are you really selling?
2. Who are your customers? – Understanding who they are and how they buy from you will help all areas of your business.
3. Website – Think about what you want your visitors to do at each point in your site and ensure you push them towards that action. Test your load speeds and check your site is mobile responsive. Attract more users to your site with interesting content, special offers, events or give-aways.
4. SEO – Review page titles and descriptions so they accurately describe the page content. And make sure your site is easy to navigate.
5. Keywords – Write down the broad categories for your business and think about the keywords people will search – include these naturally in your web content, headlines and web address.
6. Write content – create and share useful, interesting or amusing content that demonstrates your expertise and/or answers an audience need.
7. Use Google Analytics – assess each page and spot and improve pages with poor bounce rates.
8. Email marketing – Build a purpose-built database – and get permission. Create a content plan of useful, compelling emails that deliver to your marketing goals.
9. Social media – Build a community first, sales second. Be authentic and share the ‘real you’ to fans and followers. Be responsive – show you are engaged and listening by responding to messages, tweets and mentions.
10. Marketing in the digital age is about strategy and consistency – think carefully about what activities might work well for your brand and audience, and put plans in place to do them regularly – every day, every week or every month.

This article first appeared on our old website.