Are You Reaching Your Potential? Get Your Marketing Score and See

Have you ever wondered how you stack up against other marketers? Whether your marketing is underachieving based on your potential? Whether you're even measuring the right things to assess your performance? 

We recently released the 2014 Marketing Score Report (you can read it here -- it's form-free, though the file's large) that shares how marketers, executives, and entrepreneurs rate their organizations on things like annual revenue, revenue goals, marketing budget, sales cycle, and more.

One of the most pertinent insights for this time of year was around growth goals -- 64% of organizations have aggressive (<20%) or moderately aggressive (15-20%) growth goals for the next 12 months.

But are they all going to hit those goals?

I think the ones that start with an honest assessment of their marketing as it stands at the end of 2013 -- and with a concrete plan for how they'll meet those growth goals by the end of 2014 -- are the best poised to hit those targets. This SlideShare combines the information you need to do just that: assess your marketing, see how you stack up against the rest, and figure out how you'll hit your growth goals in 2014. It's a long read, but it should give you the tools you need to start the next year off right.

When 2014 hits, be prepared to make some changes to help hit your growth goals. Depending on how your own marketing assessment went, you may have to make some changes to your team, processes, or even your approach to getting things done. Consider some of the following:

What will our goals be to help us reach our growth targets? Identify the right metrics to watch to assess your progress, and assign yourself and your team monthly and quarterly goals to hit. 

Where in my performance assessment were my weakest points? Conversely, where did my core strengths lie? Identifying these gaps will help you hire properly, invest in skill development for your current team, and figure out where you can shift resources around so your core competencies remain in tact while you address weak points.

Hire and nurture the best. Whether you're outsourcing, bringing new people in-house, or developing existing talent, invest in A-players. Having a team that understands full-funnel marketing, a diverse skill set, and an agile approach to marketing -- we like to call these people prototype marketers -- will be key in reaching your growth goals in 2014.

Good luck in the new year, and share your initiatives in the comments below.