From Harold Camping predicting the Rapture, to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Superbowl, to Conde Naste Traveler citing Libya as “One of the 15 Places to See Right Now” just days before NATO started airstrikes, 2011 was filled with the usual assortment of horrible predictions. And yet we persist in prognosticating every January. While some are predicting gold to surpass $2500 an ounce (don’t count on it), I’m going to give you three sure-fire, can’t-miss, stone-cold locks that you can bet the house on.

Predictions are a pretty much a no-win venture. To see why, check out this article on CNN/Money on the 10 worst business predictions from 2011. And based on how I fared in the office football pool this season, I should have my head checked for making business predictions. But these three bits of business clairvoyance are very nearly facts in their surety. So without any more ado …

1. Doing the same old things will return the same old results. Yup, I’m really going out on a limb with this first one. But my gut says that if you don’t correct the lack of alignment between sales and marketing, and don’t develop a strategic, integrated approach to marketing, you’re going to achieve similar results to last year – and we all remember what last year was like.
2. Incorporating social media and content generation strategies will improve your marketing. Yes, some forecasters are saying to you should stay rooted in marketing’s Dark Ages, but I’m going to risk it. I’m going to suggest that adopting current marketing tactics may actually benefit your bottom line. Craziness, I know.
3. Becoming a customer-first, transparent and accountable organization will benefit your brand. Even Carnac the Magnificent (click here if you’re not old enough to get this reference) wouldn’t go here, but I’m willing to say it: customers like being treated well and your brand is all about the customer experience.

I’ll also take a risk here and predict that you want to see better results; you want to improve revenue and profit. The point here is you won’t achieve these results by hoping for them. You need to take concrete action to change the status quo. Good enough isn’t good enough anymore.

But wait! Just for being one of the first readers of this blog, I’m going to include a bonus prediction just for you: The Mayan calendar will be wrong and the world won’t end on December 21. Sure that’s ridiculous, but so it sitting around waiting for your business to change on it’s own.

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2. What’s in Your Marketing Fall Line-up?
3. Brand is the shark of the marketing world
4. Customer Value: Driving Features & Benefits to the Next Step
5. Content Marketing is Key to Branding