This simple exercise may help you identify your successes as well as things you need to do differently this year:

• List three marketing successes and the reasons why they were successful. M45 can help you build on those successes!
• Identify and study the three biggest mistakes you made relative to finances, business and marketing this year. What did you do, or not do? What did you learn? What steps can you take so that particular mistake or set of circumstances never holds you back again? We can help you avoid these mistakes in the future!

Check out these websites for more tips:

• Top ten tips for reviewing your business
• Discover your true accomplishments

If you'd rather hear about marketing than read about it, tune in to The Advertising Show, a weekly radio program that discusses marketing trends, and interviews with industry experts.

The best of times, the worst of times—the marketing year in review
A year's worth of products: the winning, the wearisome, and the weird. Check out the PCWorld roundup of how companies annoyed customers or failed to meet their needs.

Not even the best marketing campaigns could have saved these new food and drink items that flopped for obvious reasons. Jalapeño peanut butter in a tube anyone?

From free shrimp to Omarosa, from the Friends finale to "wardrobe malfunctions," 2004 ran the gamut from brilliant marketing campaigns to frantic damage control.

How We're Doing
If you have ever received a customer satisfaction survey request from M45 Marketing Services, you've probably wondered how your responses measure up with those of our other clients. At M45 we strive to continually improve in order to meet your expectations and requirements.

In 2004 we distributed 350 surveys, and we are proud to share with you the key results—each one higher than our results from 2003!

• Our projects were delivered on time 99.4% of the time (up from 98% in 2003).
• Our effectiveness in interpreting your requirements to produce a finished project that met your needs increased to 99% (up from 90% in 2003).
• 98.7% of the time our service met or exceeded your expectations (up from 98% in 2003).

Client comments are also a key for helping us to interpret areas for improvement:

• M45 is a terrific asset. They repeatedly exceed expectations and are a huge contributor to me being able to accomplish my job.
• The only reason I chose meeting expectations instead of exceeding them is because the M45 group has always provided excellent service and I simply have come to know that is what I always get. They set a very high standard a very long time ago.
• I believe that the quality and amount of publicity for this event made it the success that it was. My very sincere thanks for a job well done!
• My M45 contact was very good at keeping me informed, accepting last minute changes and sensitive to my wanting our fliers to be done in color and making them available for us to print on our own computer printers. She was friendly and listened to my concerns. I felt that I received excellent customer service from her.

What are your customers saying about you? You've worked hard to produce top quality products or services and you value your reputation. We can help develop a client satisfaction survey to learn what your customers think about you and your product or service, where you need to improve, and where you need to maintain in order to strengthen your position compared to your competitors. Once you have the information, consider using customer testimonials in your marketing projects in the coming year.

"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." —Abraham Lincoln

One of the all-time best examples of really bad PR is from the old TV show "WKRP in Cincinnati." The station owner, wanting to donate food to the needy at Thanksgiving, comes up with a promotion to drop turkeys out of a helicopter—live turkeys. Turkeys, he finds out, can't fly, and the station ends up looking awful. He meant well, but he learned the hard way that PR success is in the details!

Marketing professionals can make sure your company doesn't end up in the same boat (or helicopter). Their job is to cover all the details, make your company look great and keep you off the "worst PR of the year" list.

Even if you're not planning on throwing flightless birds out of a helicopter, you still can benefit from turning over your public relations to professionals. Are you really making the most of your company's potential?

A good example (especially for this time of year) would be an accountant firm. Every year, ABC Accounting is super busy from January through April. People are coming in off the streets with boxes full of old receipts, piles of paperwork and visions of tax refunds dancing in their heads. But the rest of the year, ABC Accounting sees a lot fewer customers. Most of the people they see for tax returns think they don't need accounting services nine months out of the year. But they have great advice to give—information on how to reduce tax burden, how to maximize investments and keep financial houses in order. How can they share that information?

With the help of a marketing agency, ABC Accounting might choose to write a column for the local newspaper, become a guest on a local radio show or even present some informational seminars for the public. Public Relations experts can help spread the word that ABC Accounting's services are valuable all year long. They may not be doing anything different than their competitor, XYZ Accounting, but the public knows more about ABC because they read ABC's column, heard ABC on the radio or attended ABC's seminar.

At M45, we help our clients "reach for the stars" and live up to their potential. Our team can help you present your company's unique talents, goods or services to the public, and develop "mind share" that leads to "market share." Call us today at 232-2121 to talk about letting us make you look great.

And we promise, no turkeys will have to suffer.