It’s that time of the year, when old resolutions get dusted off and taken for a whole new spin as the beers go around. But this time, really, you are going to keep them. Right.

Many companies seem to have the same problem with their marketing objectives. They have brainstorming sessions, workshops, hire consultants, they do everything to get a set of nice, coherent marketing objectives for the coming year. Then, at the first move by the competitors, somehow, those objectives are forgotten.

“We must respond to this new threat”

“This new promotion must be countered immediately”

So, Mr Marketing Manager, why aren’t you doing something about it?

Well, you see, our “Marketing Objective” was to establish a strong brand name with a clear association with quality and consistency. So, responding to a “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” campaign with a “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” campaign is not in line with our objectives.

Yes. Of course, you are right, Mr Marketing Manager. But you see, you have been derelict in your duty as you allowed yourself to be complacent, acting only on your own agenda and ignoring market forces. Now, get off your high horse and get that new promotion out of the door.

And there goes another “New Year’s Resolution” out the door.

This year, I was thinking, to combat this, the ideal solution was to make a resolution that I would absolutely be able to keep. My resolution for 2008 was: “I will not make any resolutions this year.”

It was going pretty good. Until this evening. I made a resolution that I would need to commit to blog regularly with good quality posts…