“I want to work smarter, not harder in 2012,” a friend resolved at an annual New Years Day party where guests reflect on the past year and state intentions for the new one.

Working smarter often involves working harder at first, but not harder on the same old stuff. Working smarter means putting systems in place that conserve time, energy and money. But that work often means asking hard questions. Otherwise we would set up resource-saving systems more often.

Which brings me to marketing budgets. It’s easy to squander time and money, equally valuable assets.

We all do it. It’s hard not to. Being organized and clear takes effort.

The problem is, we also lament that we have no time or money to get the job done the right way. The right way:

• Meets a short- or long-term goal

• Changes a behavior for the better through our work

• Gains a prospect

• Closes a sale, or

• Fills a workshop….to name a few.

In other words, we create convenient blind spots. But you can’t progress with blind spots. And the bigger the organization, the easier it is to keep getting derailed.

Not too long ago, I declined to submit a proposal to an organization I would have liked to work with. Their budget was fairly small, yet they required a cost estimate for 12 rounds of corrections. They should have needed only two or three. They lightheartedly confessed to too many cooks in the kitchen. This is no laughing matter, especially when resources are precious. Instead of putting their resources towards a well-conceived and executed effort, they put them towards poor planning, beaurocracy, and mistakes. Even worse, they were planning for the negative instead of the positive.

I want to help people succeed, not be party to their failure.

This first month of the new year is a perfect time to start spending your precious resources on the right stuff. To do that, apply some of these questions to single projects or your overall business goals.

Can this project or effort do double duty? Can your annual report function like a year-round marketing tool? Can a piece be transformed by the recipient to be reused? The result could be extra kudos, new customers, more free time, or saved money. My approach is to ask the kind of questions that find overlooked opportunities.

Do you have a system for evaluating your efforts? Soft results like a compliment are just as valuable as hard results like numbers. But how are you getting them? Websites have user logs, but is someone reviewing them? What if it’s not a website? A simple analog system to track how people found you is better than nothing. Remember, your budget is limited; you want to know how and why you’re successful…or not.

Are you meeting people where they are? Is your ideal client really on Twitter? Or are they sitting in the waiting room of a yoga center? Are they at beer and wine festivals or are they on LinkedIn, or both? Sometimes you have to be in many places at once till you figure that out. And if you have to be in many places at once, what kind of strategy are you using to conserve your time while being interesting, useful and friendly?

Have you done your homework? It doesn’t matter if you’re hiring a web designer, a business coach, a copywriter or a marketing person. Have you asked enough questions or are you blindly trusting? (Hint: I love when people ask questions. Be demanding. Be curious. Educated clients command great work!)

Do you know who you are and what you’re trying to achieve? I mean, do you really know? Or has it gotten lost in the shuffle? Are you on auto pilot? Are you doing things they way they’ve always been done? Can you post your values or goals on a wall?

Finally, what do you need help with and what can you do yourself? Where do you get the most stymied? Some people need higher-level thinking and strategy. Some need physical tools like a branding system or templates. Some need a marketing plan.

Get clear on what you can do versus what you should invest in so you can get your systems in place.

So you can protect your resources.

So you can spread your magic.

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