Setting goals for your business marketing strategy is a smart move. You know where you are in your business right now, where you want to be, so you set your marketing goals to support that growth.
But just like some of our best intentioned New Year’s resolutions, setting goals and KEEPING goals are two very different things.
I want to share some tips on how to set yourself up so that the goals you set now are ones you can stick to. Knowing your success is inevitable with the right processes in place makes goal setting not just necessary but really exciting!
Let’s set some goals!
1) Work Backwards From The Top
Setting goals for your marketing strategy is sort of like writing a very specific to-do list for your business. Often our to-do lists fill whole pages and cover a wide variety of tasks and it can be easy to get overwhelmed with just how much you have to do.
Instead of listing all the little things at once, start where you want to end up! Creating big, overarching end goals allows you to think long term, dream a bit bigger and will help you keep your eye on the big prize along the way.
2) Take The Big Marketing Goals & Break Them Down
Ok, you’ve set those big, overarching goals! Now what?
Maybe a big goal is growing your email list by 1,000 in the first half of the year.
Let’s take that big goal, that can maybe seem a little overwhelming, and break it down into smaller, actionable goals.
Now that you know the steps you’re going to take to reach that big goal, getting there doesn’t seem as daunting.
It might also be helpful to take it a step further and break down each of those smaller goals into daily or weekly goals. Whatever works best to help you work toward that one big goal – start there and keep at it!
3) Be Specific With Your Business Goals
When setting goals, especially those bigger ones, it’s really beneficial to make the goals as specific as possible. When you get specific on the business goals you have, for example, you create a defined path to achieving them.
Instead of saying…
“I want to increase web traffic to my site”
Try…
“I want to increase web traffic to my site by 20% within the next 6 months”
By creating the goal AND putting specific metrics to it, you give yourself a measurable, specific number to strive for.
Now you can look at where your site traffic is, where you want it to be in 6 months and put the actionable steps into place to get you there.
- What can you do to optimize your website so it’s as user friendly as possible?
- What content can you produce that will drive traffic to your site?
- Is your website SEO ready so you can start ranking for your topics?
This goes back to starting big and breaking it down – a goal with specifics makes it easier to decide what steps you can take to reach it! These specific metrics also help in monitoring your progress along the way.
Get specific and make those goals totally achievable!
4) Have The Systems In Place To Support Your Goals
Creating specific, broken down and do-able business marketing goals is awesome but without the systems in place to help you along the way, it’s going to be a harder path to success.
Having a defined system and flow to your strategy will support goals but also give you back the time you need to run the rest of your business!
Using business automation systems, like Keap, scheduling social media posts through an online planner and outsourcing content creation are effective ways to ensure you’re meeting your goals. Having these systems ready to tackle your business goals alleviates stress and creates a streamlining that every business owner deserves!
5) Planning, Perseverance and Patience
This is more good advice than an actionable tip so file this away.
We know there is so much more to goal setting, especially for your business, than simply putting the intention out there.
As business owners, we are always analyzing current data, projecting for future business and, maybe the hardest part of the whole equation, putting in the work! That dedication to achieving the goals we set for our business is a key part in seeing them through to the end.
Having the patience, and perseverance, to get you to your goal is a huge part of the goal setting process. Your passion for your business drives the goals you have and the growth you want to see – keep that at the core of your goal setting and the success you’re planning for will be achieved!
What goals would you set today if you knew you had the strategies in place to see them through to completion? How could you re-work a current goal using one of these tips?
