A new year instigates moments of introspection — a look back at the passing year and a designated fresh start.
Let’s call out a few new and different projects we accomplished with our clients in 2018:
- An in-depth branding guide for a top 50 consumer research firm housed invaluable resources to support brand consistency and important company communications.
- Kansas City’s annual state of entrepreneurship report showcased a vibrant ecosystem and connected us with our community.
- A marketing strategy helped an engineering and manufacturing company achieve its business goals and generate exponential revenue, thanks to a collaborative partnership.
As we reflect on 2018, our highlights include 6 lessons we learned along the way, followed by 6 goals we’d like to implement in 2019.
6 GOALS FOR 2018
1. Offer our expertise as full-service consultants.
We’re not just designers executing projects; we are here to help clients develop effective business strategies.
2. Always work to be more efficient.
We’ve created tools, including social sharing content grids and proposal and presentation templates, to enable our clients and streamline our work as a team. We constantly evaluate how we operate and the tools we provide so we can all be more efficient.
3. Record our processes to improve productivity.
We’ve prioritized our process documentation, taking time to establish and annotate our processes. This helps us jump right into recurring or related projects, without wondering, How did we do that last time?
4. Leave room for creativity without reinventing the wheel.
Lessons 2 and 3 help us channel our energies into generating new ideas and strategies. We can rely on our already-generated resources and maintain brand consistency.
5. Meet face-to-face, with our clients and with our team.
While this isn’t a new lesson, it’s an ever-present reminder. Customer service builds a stronger network and better client partnerships.
6. Motivate and empower brands that are stuck or complacent.
Businesses, large and small, can miss opportunities to grow if they are set in their ways. When an engineering and manufacturing firm trusted our marketing communications solutions this year, a measurable impact in sales was felt almost immediately.
6 GOALS FOR 2019
1. Always work to be more efficient.
Sound familiar? Well, we don’t consider this a one-and-done solution. We will keep improving our processes to serve clients better.
2. Enhance our client and prospect communications plans.
Now this doesn’t mean we’re going to bombard everyone we know 24/7. We just believe additional communication helps manage expectations (and deadlines) and builds transparency within a partnership. This goal also includes sharing insights, experiences, and success stories we gain.
3. Expand our team.
We are a small but mighty team. We have a strong wheelhouse of talent, plus a network of trusted and talented external resources that increase our manpower. We’re looking to expand our in-house team to more effectively serve our clients.
4. Prepare for emerging marketing trends.
We’ve delved more into animation and hope to support clients even more with video, an ever-growing content marketing tool.
5. Elevate our event and app development offerings.
We are ready to build on our extensive portfolio of event branding work, from concepting and themes to staging and swag. We also plan to extend our app development offerings to build on our solid platform of digital publishing and corporate communications to help our clients reach their more active and mobile customers.
6. Enrich Kansas City and our team through new community involvement activities.
We’ve been working for nonprofits and various causes in the city for almost 20 years. We pledge to be more intentional in our efforts and enlist the interests and talents of our staff to make more of an impact in 2019.
Looking forward to 2019 with you!
Interested in how we can help your business this year? Give us a call or email us today.