In order to grow as a business, it’s crucial to identify your marketing objectives. Without clear, achievable marketing targets, your company could operate much like a sailboat lost at sea—no direction, no support, and no idea where it’s headed. 

However, setting an overall goal might be the easy part. If your objectives lack any kind of strategy or plan to support them, it’s highly unlikely you’ll reach them. But if you identify a series of milestones to reach along the way, you can avoid drifting aimlessly in the sea of online marketing.

Understand Where You Are As a Business

First and foremost, make sure you have a good understanding of your company’s current position. Before choosing a target you’ll want to take the time to comprehend your present growth levels, engagement, and operating budget. From there, you can craft a realistic plan based on where you are now.  

It can also be helpful to realign with your larger goals and values as a company. This kind of groundwork will aid you in shaping new ideas about where you want to go and how you want to get there.

Choose Your Destination – What Do You Want to Accomplish?

Start by using your long-term objectives as a guide, and work backward from there. Where would you like to see your business in a year, five years, and so on? Make sure these targets are achievable and measurable with your staff and budget, and yet still big enough to inspire you and continue growing.

Whether you set just a couple of goals for your business or five, it’s important to prioritize them and set a timeline. Ask yourself why each goal matters, and how it contributes toward where you’d like to see your business down the road.

Break Your Marketing Plan Down Into Steps

Once you’ve identified where you’re headed, you can decide how you’re going to get there. Map out each leg of the journey like you would a trip. What needs to be done first? Breaking up your long-range objectives into small, bite-sized goals will keep your plans from feeling overwhelming or unclear.  

Dividing projects into steps can also help in assigning tasks, and identifying gaps or problems that might prevent you from reaching those long-term goals. Often, businesses try to do everything at once, without having the available staff, budget, or bandwidth to achieve what they set out to accomplish. This can lead to a disorganized and chaotic approach, or even worse—failure.

Keep Navigating and Checking Your Progress

With your goals in mind and a clear idea of what you’ll need to do to get there, you can get down to the business of executing your plan. Sharing it with your staff and key stakeholders not only shows accountability but aligns everyone on board so that they can work collaboratively in the same direction.

As you reach small milestones along the way, review your progress and make sure you’re still on track. Are your goals still the same as when you crafted your plan, or have they changed? External events (like Covid-19) can alter the course and require adjustments to your strategy or overall target. What matters is that you are making progress, even if mistakes are made or you encounter setbacks. Staying focused on your goals and maintaining consistency are key to realizing your dreams as an organization.

At Mindstream Creative, we can help you set achievable marketing targets, with a strategy for getting there that’s tailored to your company. We’ll work directly with you to create a plan that implements creative solutions that address your needs and goals for the next year and beyond.