Every December, I sit down and make up some goals for the coming year. Yes, usually I would wait on this blog post until December. However, someone recently asked me about setting marketing goals, so I figured I would address it now.
You probably would not embark on a journey unless you knew your destination, right? (Unless you were feeling frivolous and just wanted to see where you ended up.) So why would you undertake a marketing campaign in your business without knowing exactly what you wish to accomplish? Yet that is what I see so many people doing.
I recommend setting SMART goals. SMART is an acronym for goal-setting that has been around forever. Seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised if I learned that it was created by Moses himself. Each part of the SMART formula is very important, and I see many people disappointed because they deviate from the formula.
Oh, and before I go into the actual formula, let me add just one thing. It isn’t enough to just think about your goals. You absolutely must, must, MUST right them down and post them someplace prominent where you can see them every day. That let’s you keep your eye on the prize and not get side-tracked. (Before you argue, remember that I am an entrepreneur with ADD. Don’t even try to tell me you don’t get side-tracked.)
S - Specific
When I sit down with a client, I often ask to see their goals. Then I see things like “Improve overall business in 2010.” This is not a specific goal. It is not specific in the type of business, nor is it specific in the quantity.
If I ran a coffee shop, my specific goal could be “Improve sales of baked goods by 10%, which equals an additional $3,194 in sales yearly.” This talks about exactly what you want to sell more of (baked goods) and by how much (10% = $3,194.)
M - Measurable
A smart goal has to have a way of measuring success. This also goes back to the last example. If I had just said I wanted to increase sales of baked goods by 10%, what does that mean? 10% isn’t measurable without doing more math, but $3,194 in new sales is easy to measure.
Or you may want to measure the number of new contacts you make from your networking. A non-smart goal may say “Make more contacts in the insurance industry at networking events”, but that isn’t really easily measurable. However, a goal of “Make 1 new insurance contact at each networking event I go to” is measurable.
A - Attainable
You have to make sure that you can actually reach your goal. You don’t want to be spinning your wheels, working your tail off for something you can never actually accomplish.
“I want to become President of the United States before age 28″ is not attainable, due to laws prohibiting it. However, if the White House was your ultimate goal, then a smaller step like “Become a Junior Senator by age 28″ may be an attainable goal.
R - Realistic
Realistic goals are goals that your are willing and able to go after. Sometimes people ask me what the difference is between Realistic and Attainable. An unattainable goal is something that is simply not possible, whereas an unrealistic goal may be theoretically possible, but you may not be willing to go after it.
For example, if someone trains 10 hours a day and becomes singularly focused on becoming as good at possible at a sport, one can make the Olympic team. That is a realistic goal. However, it is not realistic if you are unwilling to train and watch your diet because you also want to set the world record for most bags of potato chips eaten in a 3 month period.
Recently, I had one associate of mine set a goal which was a complete shot in the dark. She had an action and her goal was to acquire X number of new clients from this action. The problem was that there was no evidence to suggest that it would produce such results. The action she is taking tends to generate about 1%-5% response. However, her goal had her at over 11% response in order to succeed. That is why it is important to think about your goals and make sure they are realistic.
So when setting a smart goal, make sure that it is a goal that is both possible to achieve and that you are willing to do the work to accomplish.
T- Timely
A goal without a time limit is not a goal at all. I recommend setting yearly goals, as well as possibly quarterly goals. In the examples I have given in this posting, many of the goals were indeed timely, if ultimately not smart goals.
The coffee shop wanted to sell 10% more in a year.
The networker wanted to make a new contact in the span of each networking event.
The ambitious politician wanted to achieve a specific office by age 28.
Every smart goal you set has to have a deadline at which point you can check and see if you were successful in achieving it.
Be ambitious.
If you set smart goals and find yourself easily accomplishing them, it means you aren’t aiming high enough. You need to push yourself. Shorten the time frame or strive for more measurable results. I will freely admit that I do NOT achieve all of my goals each year. I do succeed at some, but things sometimes happen to make a certain goal unrealistic later on, or I simply fall short.
When this happens, I don’t beat myself up. I evaluate the goal and figure out why I fell short, and then I revise the goal and try again. Smart goals are not a box to constrain you, but rather a road map to guide you. When I am faced with a new opportunity or decision, I look at my goals and evaluate whether the new opportunity or decision will bring me closer or farther from my goals. Or, it may get me to decide on a new goal which takes precedence over my other goals. Either way, I have solid criteria by which to evaluate things and guide my business and life.
I hope you found this post to be helpful. I will revisit all of this again in a few months and we can set our goals for the coming year together.
