I can’t stop thinking about how 2023 is just a few weeks away. If you haven’t already heard this reminder from someone else, it is time to start thinking about your new year’s resolutions. Both personally and for your business. This also means it is time to do a wellness checkup on your business. How did your business perform in 2022? Did you set and meet your business goals?
If you didn’t achieve your goals, did you at least make progress in the right direction? If you didn’t do as well as you hoped, don’t beat yourself up. Today we start a series about getting a fresh start and setting marketing goals for 2023. If you have never set marketing goals for your business, over the next four weeks, I will walk you through the steps to set attainable, practical goals for your business that you can measure and stick with throughout the year.
This is a series that you will want to have a pen and paper handy to take notes so you can put into action what I have to share. We will start today’s lesson by focusing on how important it is for every small business to set business goals.
Marketing goals are essential for every small business owner to set and achieve.
If your inbox is anything like mine, you are also likely inundated with promotional material from numerous organizations trying to sell you on the following best business tool out there. If you aren’t careful and focused, you can quickly find yourself engaging in several business strategies all at once and not fully able to track the progress of any of them. That is why we highly suggest setting goals for your business each year so you have a focus and direction on what needs to be done in the coming year.
How does one start figuring out what their business goals should even be?
Take the time to reflect on the following things that will help you narrow down on what areas of your business need the most help.
- What did your business accomplish in the last year?
- What were some pain points from last year?
- Are there any areas/departments within your business that are struggling
You can move on to the forward-thinking plans based on what you discover in the first three reflective questions.
- What issues came up last year that you want to have addressed and resolved this year
- What do you want the business to accomplish in the company year?
- What changes within your business need to happen to make your or your team’s life easier?
Focus on setting the essential goals for the year
These goals should focus on one or two major marketing avenues and include a clear definition of success. These goals also need to align with both short-term and long-term business objectives.
Understanding How to Make SMART Goals
The last thing I want to address in today’s message is how we can go about making our marketing goals SMART goals. All goals you set, whether it is for your personal development or your business, should be SMAR. And SMART stands for goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound.
