Having goals for your company, and specifically for your company’s marketing, is incredibly important. However, often these goals tend to be less helpful than you might think, as they lack key components. Creating SMART goals for your company can help. SMART goals ensure you know what you’re trying to achieve. They also are a key component in gauging your success.
What are SMART goals? SMART stands for:
- S – Specific (Go beyond “I want to gain more clients.” Specify. “I want to gain 15 new clients this year, with 5 using more than 1 of our services/products.)
- M – Measurable (Use specific metrics such as the # of products sold, the dollar value of sales achieved, the # of initial client meetings held, etc. to determine success.)
- A – Achievable (Goals should be stretching, but also realistic. If you gained 10 clients last year, 15 or 20 new clients this year might be achievable, but 50 new clients would be unlikely.)
- R – Relevant (Does this goal make sense? A goal like gaining 500 new Facebook followers may seem like a good goal, but if you don’t post often or your content rarely leads to new sales, this goal is unlikely to drive success for your business.)
- T – Time-bound (Give yourself a deadline to achieve this goal. Is this goal for the year, for 6 months, or less? If it’s for a long period of time, like a year, what are smaller SMART goals you can set monthly or weekly to ensure you hit your overall target?)
Utilizing SMART will help plan goals that are beneficial for your company. By following this setup for each goal, you will be able to avoid common mistakes like vagueness, lack of KPIs, unattainable goals, unclear direction & no time frame.
Do the smart thing, make SMART goals for your company’s marketing today!