Dear Business Owner,
Can you tell me what your marketing goals look like? More importantly, have they worked to bring you business? For most, the answer is uncertain. Often times people think of marketing as a necessary evil, only completing the task in the same mundane way because they’re told they have to or should. With no real plan in mind, they may throw out a few Facebook posts or broadcast a radio commercial and hope for the best. To make matters worse, they have no real plan in place to measure their return on investment.
I want you to do a little exercise for me. Take a minute to think about your business in its most idealistic fashion. What does your work environment look like? How are your employees behaving? Is there a fascinating project you’re working on? Are all departments working together cohesively and are everyone’s skills being utilized to the fullest? How about this one…is business booming?
Now comes the fun part. Get a pen out and write up what it would take to make those visions a reality. Try to think of at least ten ways you could get there, and then pick the top three you could tackle right away. Do any of these activities align with your current business goals? If you haven’t established any clear business goals, take a minute to look at the list you just created, and come up with a minimum of 2-3 strategic business goals. I like to use the S.M.A.R.T acronym when doing an exercise such as this. When creating SMART goals, you want to make sure each goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Related, or in other words–SMART! Once you have those goals, you can then (and only then) begin to create your marketing goals. Using the SMART goal method is also a great way to nail down any other problem areas your business may face.
An example of a business and marketing SMART goal would look something like this…
Business Goal:
I want to spend 15% of my total sales on marketing in order to increase sales by 35% in a 12-month timeframe.
In order to increase sales by 35% over a 12-month timeframe, I am going to invest 3% of my marketing budget hiring a marketing agency to develop a strategic marketing plan, and 12% in implementing the marketing activities developed from the marketing plan.
As you can see from the example above, multiple marketing objectives could arise from one marketing goal. One important thing to note is the distinction between a marketing goal and an objective. Marketing goals are the broad overarching theme for your campaign and marketing objectives are the vehicles that drive you there.
Here is a quick example of a marketing objective that could arise from the overarching marketing goal mentioned above…
In order to achieve my marketing goal, I am first going to look for a qualified marketing agency to perform the research necessary to develop a strategic marketing plan by August 1, 2016.
If you’re very familiar with marketing this may sound like child’s play, but if you’re not–I hope this information has helped. One of the perks of my position is helping business owners accomplish their marketing goals. I love taking a business owner’s dreams and turning them into a reality through strategic planning. What are some of your marketing or business goals? I’d love to sit down with you and work out a plan to get you there. Drop a comment or shoot me an email at melissa@peppershock.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Cheers!
Melissa
