7 Marketing Resolutions for 2025

By Carrie Cousins

Thank you to Valley Business FRONT for featuring our Vice President, Carrie Cousins, in their January 2025 issue.

I’ve been on both sides of the marketing equation. I’ve been on an in-house marketing team that needed the help of an agency to get everything done efficiently and effectively and now I’m that marketing partner for teams that can use the help.

If you want to make the most of that relationship – or are thinking about working with a marketing agency for the first time, this is the moment to think about how that relationship can benefit your organization.

What better way to think about it than with a few marketing resolutions for the coming year.

1. Tell Better Stories: Few things will benefit you as much as a solid brand story. Look at your strategy. Is it time for a refresh?
2. Aim for a Marketing Media Mix: There’s no one marketing tactic or magic bullet. Even with a smaller budget, you can include a mix of marketing channels and efforts with a goal of creating touchpoints with as many potential customers as possible.
3. Pick One Social Media Channel and Do It Well: Social media is time consuming and can be costly to do well. But you don’t have to do everything. Pick the channel that’s most useful for your business and commit to doing it well.
4. Plan for a Website Investment Cycle: You should always be budgeting for and thinking about website upgrades. Technology is moving at pace that almost requires companies to build a new website every three to five years. Keep that in mind for multi-year budget planning.
5. Make Return on Ad Spend and Transparent Reporting a Priority: Do you know where your budgets are going? Are digital ads returning traffic or actual results? If it is not the latter, it’s time to ask questions.
6. Find a Partner Who Cares About Your Business: You can’t always put your finger on this one, but you should connect with your marketing partner. They should be asking you about your business goals, development, and growth. Your success is their success!
7. Have Fun: Marketing and advertising is fun. (Yes, I know this is a purist concept.) Remember why you gravitated toward this industry and make it a point to remember and reintroduce that joy into your work life!

Carrie Cousins is the Vice President at LeadPoint Digital in Roanoke. For 15+ years, she has helped businesses tell their stories and get better results online with practical digital marketing strategies. She is also an active leader in AAF, serving on the local and district boards, and is an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech.