The Marketing Resolution Trap: How To Keep Business On Track Beyond January

Don’t let your marketing fizzle out like a January gym membership. Keep business on track all year long with these crucial steps.

Every January, fitness centers across the country are packed with enthusiastic gym-goers determined to finally achieve their health goals. The energy is high, the motivation is fresh, and everyone is convinced this will be the year they stay consistent. But by the end of the month, the crowds start thinning. People lose steam. They get discouraged by slow progress, or they fall off track without the right guidance and support.

The same cycle happens in business. As professionals, we head into Q4 full of ambition, mapping out bold marketing strategies and setting aggressive goals for the new year. January 1st arrives, and we hit the ground running—but soon enough, the momentum fades. Holiday distractions slowed the sense of urgency in the office. Team members lack the support and follow-through necessary to handle new tasks, and the absence of sustainable systems leaves our grand plans collecting dust by February.

Sometimes we start off the year with a bang, big plans in place and racing toward the finish line. Other years, we just want our money back. Maybe you set grand plans for a total health reset but twist your ankle during your third trip to the gym. You spend the whole of Q4 planning a new product launch for the first week of January, but it rolls out to crickets because everyone is still on vacation. You finally schedule a meeting with a dream client only to wake up to a house full of sick kids, and there’s no choice but to reschedule.

Best laid plans often get knocked sideways by the most mundane bumps in the road. Or worse, something truly catastrophic happens that we just weren’t expecting. When you’re running a business or building a brand, there will always be outside forces at play. Just like fitness, marketing success isn’t about a strong start—it’s about consistency over time.

How To Keep Business On Track Beyond January

Lifestyle Marketing Photography & Personal Branding for Brian and Lindsay Schlick

Why Do We Lose Momentum?

Lifestyle Marketing Photography & Personal Branding for Tracy Tofte

Whether we’re setting goals in the gym or the office, without a clear plan, we feel lost and overwhelmed. When results don’t come quickly, discouragement sets in. We push too hard, too fast, leading to burnout or even setbacks. And without accountability, it’s easy to fall off track. Most importantly, success requires consistent habits, and if those habits aren’t in place, sustainability feels impossible. We all fall into the same traps:

• Lack of direction: Without clear business goals and a documented marketing strategy, it’s easy to feel lost yet pulled in a million directions at once. When left unaddressed, this causes stagnation instead of growth. 
• Unclear expectations: Because they operate from a high-level view of their business, many business owners or executives might expect specific results without fully understanding the team’s challenges. This gap in understanding can lead to discouragement and frustration when progress is slower than anticipated. 
• Overcommitting: Especially in the age of digital marketing, it can feel like we need to implement every marketing strategy under the sun, while simultaneously creating 10+ pieces of content a day, just to stay relevant. But that’s all just noise. Instead, focus on the few strategies that resonate with your target audience—that’s it. Anything more just causes unnecessary burnout.
• Lack of support: More often than not, new goals and higher revenue targets require a little more support. Without a reliable team or the right tools in place, burnout and roadblocks are inevitable. Sometimes a little outside perspective can help you see simple fixes with ease. 
• Inconsistent habits: Success requires consistent action, and without established routines and systems, marketing efforts become sporadic and purposeless. Conversely, building a strong foundation of daily, weekly and monthly marketing activities is key to creating the kind of momentum that ensures steady growth.

Lifestyle Marketing Photography & Personal Branding for Racquel Wilder

How To Overcome The ‘Gym Effect’ In Marketing

While we all fall into these same traps, it’s also our responsibility to get ourselves out of them and move forward. If you want to achieve long-term success with your marketing, and keep business on track beyond January, it’s not about a January sprint; it’s about creating systems and habits that carry you through the entire year.

Here are the key steps we take in our Business & Visual Marketing Planning Session to help you keep business on track in 2025:

1. Business & Brand Evaluation

Professional Portraits & Headshots for Pamela Verner

We start by understanding where you are in your business and your online presence. Through in-depth research and guided questions, we identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to refine your brand and position it for growth.

2. Revenue Planning

We work with you to establish clear, actionable goals based on your vision and business objectives. By starting with an aspirational yet attainable annual revenue target, we can align your marketing efforts with your larger business goals. Everything you do will work toward a common purpose.

3. Business Roadmap

Once your goals are set, we provide a customized roadmap to help you reach them. This plan outlines your monthly and weekly targets, best marketing strategies, and step-by-step actions needed to get you one step closer to your future aspirations every day.

4. Visual Marketing Strategy

By identifying what works—and what doesn’t—we can help you maximize your existing marketing assets and strengthen your brand presence online. From content strategies to branding guidelines, we make sure your visuals align with your goals, and if your content needs a refresh, we can help you create compelling new content with ease.

5. Implementation and Scheduling

With a strong foundation in place, consistency becomes key—and this is where we shine. Based on your unique goals, we craft a custom content creation and posting schedule that fits your timeline and budget, ensuring you stay engaged with your audience without feeling overwhelmed.

6. Accountability & Support

To keep the momentum going, we provide valuable meeting summaries and an actionable checklist to guide you through the implementation process. This helps you take ownership of your strategy and see real results. For those moments when you get stuck—because we all do—we’re just an email away, ready to walk you through whatever roadblock you’re facing today to get you to success tomorrow. 

Consistency Wins the Race

The goal isn’t to market well in January; it’s to market purposefully and consistently throughout the year. The businesses that enjoy long-term success understand that marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. By creating a sustainable plan, building the right habits, and leaning on support systems, you can avoid the “January gym effect” and achieve your marketing goals this year—and for years to come.

So, as you reflect on your 2024 marketing goals, ask yourself: Are you setting yourself up for short-term bursts of activity, or are you committed to building a marketing strategy that lasts all year long?

Your ideal 2025 revenue goal is possible. You just have to plan for it—and keep going. 

Ask us how we can help you stay consistent, stay accountable, and achieve lasting success beyond 2025! Keep business on track with our Business & Visual Marketing Planning Sessions. 

Visual Marketing Education 

At SchlickArt, we know your marketing visuals are only effective if you actually use them. That’s why we help you create powerful photography and video – and then we teach you how to share it. With each session, we’ll give you our best tips based on your specific marketing goals. We provide the education and resources you need to brand your content, integrate it into your marketing strategy, post it with intention, and maximize engagement along the way. 

If you want even more tips and resources to help keep business on track this year, we have an educational blog, newsletter and video channel to help you dive deeper, as well as professional presentations, workshops, and coaching sessions if you’re ready to take action and level-up your marketing now. 

About SchlickArt 

SchlickArt, a luxury visual marketing company based in Santa Clarita, started in March 2012 with the simple idea that empowerment creates a kind of authenticity that shines through every camera lens. Built on a philosophy–rather than a product, service or person–SchlickArt has rapidly evolved, meeting fractional CMO, business and strategy planning, professional portraiture, business photo and business video needs as diverse as the community we capture. Designed to keep business on track, our services cater to business owners, executives, professionals, and personal brands in Southern California and beyond. It’s the desire to take care of you, the client, that drives us at SchlickArt.

Kirsten Quinn

A lover of strong coffee and yellowed pages, Kirsten Quinn-Smith is a professional content writer and owner of WordSmith Content Marketing here in Santa Clarita. She believes great content can forge a loyal, authentic and beneficial relationship between you and your audience – and grow your business. With each piece of writing, Kirsten's goal is to position you in the content spotlight through audience-centered, strategy-based writing that actually sounds like you. Why? Everyone has a story, and every story deserves to be heard.

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