There's an old saying that goes "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." That saying is certainly true in the marketing world. There are many people who want to make a lot of money from their business. However, many of those same people don't even take the time to set marketing goals that will help them to produce the results that they want to achieve.
Setting goals is very important in life overall, but it is even more important when it comes down to marketing your products and services. If you don't set a baseline as far as where you want to be and what you identify as success in your business, you are building your business in a very haphazard fashion.
Why is setting goals important?
Let me ask you a question.
If you wanted to take a road trip from New York to California, what is the first thing that you would do? Wouldn't you decide WHERE in California you want your final destination to be? What if you never decided on a final destination in California? You could wind up anywhere in the entire state. What if you never even decided on California being your final destination? You might end up in Texas, Florida or even in Mexico!
The same applies for your business. If you don't take the time out to set marketing goals that produce results, you might wind up anywhere in your business.
So how do you set goals and practice goal setting when it comes down to the marketing of your business?
The first thing that you want to do is set your final destination for your business. If your goal is to build a successful business, what do you define as success exactly? Perhaps success to you might be to make an extra $500 a month from your business to help out with your car payment? Maybe you might want to make $2500 a month from your business so you can quit your job? Success could be building a six figure income from your business? Maybe you might even want to build a multi-million or even a multi-billion dollar business and take your company public? Whatever you define as success for your business, you want to write it down.
Once you have your final destination in place, the next thing that you want to do is set milestones along the path. Using the road trip example, you're probably not going to drive straight to California from New York. There is a good chance that you are going to make stops along the journey. The same goes for your business. You need to set smaller milestones along the way so that you can clearly see that you are on track towards meeting your goal.
Finally, you want to identify marketing strategies and techniques that can help you to reach the milestones that you have established. These marketing strategies and techniques are going to be the tasks that you are going to implement to drive and convert prospects into customers for your business. The customers provide the money for your business and the money helps you to meet the milestones and goals that you have established.
By taking the time out to set marketing goals and implement goal setting in your business, you are building your business on a sound foundation and dramatically increasing the likelihood of reaching what you define as success in your business.
Mark Garland is the owner of Analyzed Marketing Solutions, who are dedicated to helping others successfully market their products and services. He recently released The Analyzed Marketing Business Area which helps websites and small businesses establish a successful online presence, along with teaches individuals how to generate a significant income on the Internet.
How To Set Marketing Goals That Produce Results
