Dear 2012…

As we approach mid January, our New Year’s revelries have already blurred into our drunken back-catalogue and our resolutions are receiving their ultimate test in willpower.

That said, before this brief moment of newness and sense of beginning fades altogether, we wanted to take a moment to consider what the year 2012 has in store.

2012 is undoubtedly year of high hopes, for the Olympics and for the economy.

And in our small part of things, let 2012 be the year that:

• Social media becomes an integrated part of brand communications

Gone are the days when brands can choose to disregard social media or to view it as separate to their core marketing strategy.

Having the right logo design and the right look for your website has become a hygiene matter.

No matter how big or small you are, your consumer is talking about you. It’s time to get a voice because, if you don’t talk back, they’ll make friends with your competitor instead.

• Brands are proud to be British

Whether tapping into the spotlight the Olympics will throw onto the UK, continuing with heritage branding inspired by 2011’s Royal Wedding fever or evoking a sense of camaraderie for change as seen within recent protests and London riot clean up missions, 2012 is the year that will see brands celebrate their British heritage.

• We get face to face with consumers again

Social media has many benefits and one major benefit for brands during the recession was that it represented a cost-effective way to get dialogue with consumers in the midst of marketing budgets being slashed.

Events, field marketing and exhibitions were often the first lines to be deleted from budgets as results from these forms of marketing can be less quantifiable in boardroom terms.

The truth however is that one is no substitute for another. Yes all brands should be part of an online dialogue with their consumers via social media. But, face to face marketing is the most effective way for consumers to fully experience what your brand is all about and can be a way of connecting with another core of hard-to-reach consumers.

So, as late January bids welcome to the return of our New Year banished vices, we look forward to the year ahead and the challenges that lie in store.

Whether competing on the athletics track, on the stock market or on the Google rankings, 2012 is a year of high hopes for us all.

Liquid Graphic is here, ready to talk to you about why social media is relevant to your business, how you can refresh your brand image cost-effectively and how you can appear higher within the search engine rankings. Talk to us.