By Todd Woods-CEO Guerrilla Marketing Strategies
As we kick off every year there is always talk about goals; New Year's resolutions if you will. With all the buzz about goal writing every year, do you take time to plan and write out your business marketing goals? If not, you must. I hear some say, “But I never hit my goals anyhow, so why bother, it's more disappointing than anything?”
I agree, if year after year I didn't hit my marketing goals, I would tend to get frustrated as well. So here are a few quick ideas and guidelines on setting, writing, and achieving your marketing goals.
Now, I realize that many companies plan on a fiscal year, and perhaps you follow suit and plan your annual goals in March or June. That's fine. These guidelines will help you on your next round of goal setting.
Be Realistic
One of the main reasons people fail at reaching their goals is they are unrealistic to begin with. If you have been in business for several years and shoot for a 30 percent increase every year, that's a tough nut to crack. So be realistic and plan to grow at a reasonable growth rate.
Long Range, Intermediate, and Short Term Goals
Start with your long range goals. These will be 3 to 5 years out. Where would you like to be in 3 years or 5 years. Then, break those long range goals into intermediate range goals. These would be yearly or even monthly goals.
Once you have those established, you can break out the magnifying glass so to speak and break those intermediate goals down to short term goals. These are weekly and daily, breaking them into “bite size” pieces.
Daily Tasks
Now, here is where the magic takes place. This is what makes every goal achievable; breaking goals into very specific, very achievable daily tasks that you will attack daily– a little bit at a time. Every morning when you begin your day you need to start with looking at your daily tasks, and schedule your day around them, putting them first and foremost.
The problem most people have with achieving goals is they let other things take priority. We all have “fires” that come up that we need to put out, but we need to make sure we tackle our daily tasks launching us toward our intermediate and long range goals FIRST. |
