1. We said… The economy IS going to improve.  Keep the faith.  We still have faith and clients who moved out of the comfort zone and tried new service or products experienced growth in 2011, our business did too.

2.       We said…Collect emails! Didn’t start collecting yet? There is still opportunity here. Start now by collecting at the point of sale or at networking events and trade shows, we saw great results from enews and eblasts in 2011.

3.       We said…Companies, small and large, need to create a social media strategy.   Still true! Don’t have a plan?  Make sure to have one in 2012.  Some interesting predictions for social media trends here. Make sure to write it down, whatever you do, do it consistently, weekly, monthly or quarterly!

4.       We said…Manage Your On-line Rep- If you set up a Google alert, you had an opportunity to respond to any thing being said about your business. You can also use the alerts to also check on what your competition is doing.

5.       We said…Face-to-face networks will continue to grow. This worked too. For those that went to a meeting and then touched base with them on-line, you grew our network and developed new business.

6.       We said….Go Green! If you found a way for your business to go green and then promoted it, you did well this year!  Keep up the good work.

7.       We said…Don’t have a web site yet? Guess what? One-way web sites are now OLD Fashioned!  Hopefully you did create a blog or at least a Facebook business page this year. Don’t forget you can now add your company profile to Linkedin and make sure to get set up on Google+ soon too!

8.       We said…Companies that succeed in 2012 will continue to focus on relationships. Technology is a tool but relationships are what keeps them coming. Look at Dominos Pizza creating conversation, even if it might not have been in their best light, they corrected their shortcomings and are selling a bunch of pizza.

Your comments and opinions are always welcomed.

My Best,

Kathy Kane

Market Insights, LLC