Sit back and relax because today we’re ready to learn more about something that every business has…or should have. A solid business should have a list of goals. No, this doesn’t have to be a list that is typed out in Times New Roman, 12 point font, on display for everyone to see.
But they should be clearly known and understood by their employees. There’s a general marketing term for these business goals, and they’re called SMART goals. So what are SMART goals for your marketing business?
The word SMART is actually an acronym- and who doesn’t love a good acronym? So without further ado, let’s break this apart and learn about what makes a SMART goal, smart.
S: SPECIFIC.
This simply means that your goals should be concise- and with a clear task at hand. A bad example of this would be, “Update material on the website.” If an employee read this goal from a sheet of paper, would they know exactly what to do? A better way to construct a SPECIFIC goal would be to say, “Add new content material to the Blog tab on the website.” The difference between the two is that the second one provides an exact direction for what needs to be done.
M: MEASURABLE.
You want to be able to see your progress- and you deserve to! How can you determine the success of your efforts? You set a MEASURABLE goal! It’s easy to track number-based goals, like raising sales income by 10%. But if your goal is something less visual, like improving the quality of customer service online, all you have to do is switch gears. An example of this kind of goal would be, “Improve customer service ratings online.” That way you can truly see what you’re able to accomplish.
A: ATTAINABLE.
Attainable is just another word for reachable or realistic. Your goal shouldn’t seem impossible and you shouldn’t necessarily have to kill yourself to achieve it. “Raise our current weekly revenue from 5,000 to 20,000,” would not be an attainable goal.
Start with something like “Raise our current weekly revenue from 5,000 to 5,500.” This is definitely within reach, and raisable once accomplished. Attainable goals allow you to build on them!
R: RELEVANT.
Do your goals make sense based on your industry? If not, you may want to rethink them. Each business holds long term goals that relate to their entire objective. Your SMART goals should reflect that. If achieving one of these goals doesn’t many any kind of contribution to the overall vision of the company, it’s not a solid goal. If you own a small clothing boutique, it would make sense to set a goal like increasing its online presence. This would be a RELEVANT goal because it contributes to the overall objective to get people to buy their clothes.
T: TIMELY.
There’s gotta be an end game. For a goal to be SMART, you have to decide upon a deadline. Set a clear date for when you hope to see some progress or better yet, achievement. Doing this forces you to stay motivated and remain focused. So take your goal and tack a date on the end of it. You can make it as specific as you want- “by lunch next Monday,” “12/31/19,” or “before the end of the month.” Each of these are TIMELY, and will help you take action in the pursuit of your goals.
Now that you’ve learned the ropes to setting SMART goals, implement them in your business or workplace!
