Setting goals, whether it be for yourself or your business, can be difficult. It’s not so simple as just writing down what you want to accomplish and hoping you make it there. No, in fact, it takes a lot more and goals that are set in the proper way often have the highest potential for success. 

WHY SET GOALS?

Setting goals for your business and marketing strategy is incredibly important. Goals can provide direction and focus. People who actively set goals are 10 times more successful than those who don’t. Goal clarity has a direct impact on motivation in the workplace, and setting goals keeps you persistent in your success. Goals also provide a sense of satisfaction that can be reflected in helping customers, clients, and potential clients succeed. When you instill courage and motivation while helping others to succeed, they will develop a sense of trust within you and your business. Keeping yourself motivated and prioritizing change can have a big impact on your marketing strategy. 

GOAL SETTING FOR BUSINESSES

Write It Down

Once you have a goal in mind, the first thing you should do is write it down. In fact, people who write down their goals are 20% more likely to succeed in accomplishing their goals compared to those who don’t. The goals you choose to write down are 42% more likely to be achieved. Writing down your goals allows you to explore them a bit deeper; you’re forced to ‘get clear' on the what, how, when, and why of the goal. 

• What exactly is it that you want to accomplish? 
• How are you going to get there? 
• When do you want this goal to be accomplished? 
• Why is this goal important to you or your business? 

Keeping these questions in mind can help you make your goal more specific or realistic. 

What’s in a goal?

What are the keys to a successful goal? Well, just as important as writing them down, is remembering to keep those goals realistic. We’re not saying you can’t shoot for the stars - because you definitely can - but keeping in mind a timeline or actions that are realistic can all help set you up for success. On the flip side, be careful of creating goals that are too easy to accomplish, or it may leave you talking yourself out of the importance or prioritization of them.. This might mean that you have one large overarching goal and to accomplish that one goal, you have smaller, easier goals to accomplish on the way. A great thing to keep in mind is the concept of “SMART” goals. They are defined as:

Specific 

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic 

Time-Bound

This can be a great guide to organizing and listing all the tasks. The nitty-gritty of goal-setting is planning it out. You have your goal, you wrote it down but where to go from there? 

While this may seem repetitive, think about where your goal could take you and the end goal, or destination you want to get to. This might mean there are steps before that end destination, but the important thing is making sure your destination is your final achievement. 

Is your goal a short-term or long-term goal? Are there things that need to be accomplished before the final goal is complete? How long will each of those steps take? These are all important questions to ask yourself. Knowing exactly how long each step will take (or how long you’d like to spend on it) will help you keep pushing forward. Including time frames in your goal and the steps to get there helps track progress towards that goal versus it being vague or in the foreseeable future. That means each ‘sub-step’ should have a date you would like to see it completed by. This encourages you to take action to complete each step.

The next step is to organize your process on paper. Write each individual step down with the dates you would like to have them completed. Each step should have a brief overview of what you need to do. Make it into a type of checklist. Checklists actually train your brain to be more productive. They have the power to make every task more actionable and doable by the individual. Your brain actually releases dopamine every time you check something off a list because that’s a type of small success. No wonder we all love the satisfaction of crossing things off our to-do lists!

Life happens, things change, and that’s okay. It’s important to take a look back at your list and be flexible. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. Make adjustments and reviews when needed and get right back to crushing it and focus in on what progress and success really look like. 

Getting support from coworkers or other key players can make a big difference in your overall motivation towards your goal. Developing a system of support can help you to hold your team and yourself accountable towards reaching that goal. It has actually been proven that sharing your goal with someone that you trust or look up to makes you more committed to achieving your goals. 

How to Stay Motivated

Sometimes, staying motivated to reach your goals is the most difficult thing to do. For example, when it comes to New Year’s goals 92%of resolutions fail by January 15th. People lack the motivation to actively pursue their goals and give up. Don’t let that be you and your marketing strategy goals! Here are some quick reminders and tips when it comes to staying motivated towards your goals. 

• Money isn’t always most important: Money doesn’t have to be the only motivator for change, progress, or ultimate success. While it can be motivating and driving in the beginning, it’s difficult to sustain financial motivation if the work takes longer than expected. 
  
  
• Visualize the Results and Keep the Big Picture in Mind: Visualization is a great tool to stay motivated. Visualize your end goal and what it will feel like to finally reach it. This can be a great source of fuel even on days you don’t feel like working towards that goal. Remember why you’re working towards that goal in the first place, why it was so important. 
  
  
• Tap into Other’s Energy: Let that support system of positive energy motivate you to push you and your team farther towards your goals. Maybe your goal was to increase your brand’s social media presence. Don’t forget about the followers you still have, let their engagement and energy motivate you further to make more connections.
  
  
• Stay Organized: Stay organized in the collection of your thoughts and materials as you work towards your goal. A cluttered brain is an unfocused and unmotivated brain, so remember to stick to that schedule and keep crossing those little steps off on the way. 
  
  
• Be Consistent: Try and make an active effort every day towards your goal. Even if you’re not in the mood, do one small proactive thing that will move you closer to your goal. You’ll thank yourself later.
  
  

2 Tips to GETTING StartED Now

If you’re feeling motivated to take a small step towards getting closer to your goal, here are some things you can do right now to get started. Remember, doing a small proactive step towards your goal every day is just as beneficial as the big steps.

1. 1. The Daily Carnage
   2. Indie Hacker
   3. SaaS Products & Marketing
   4. MP Social 
   5. Social Media Managers

1. Milestone Planner
2. Goalscape
3. Move Mountains 
4. Momentum 
5. Lifetick

Doing either of these things is a great first step to getting started on your marketing strategy goals. Try to remember why you set your goal in the first place and how your business will benefit in the long run. Stay motivated and keep pushing on because people who have goals are more productive and successful, and who doesn’t want to be that for their business?