The beginning of the new year is a great time to create a strategic business marketing plan. Typically the business is a little slower, and the hectic schedule of the holiday season is over. So now, you can focus on your business and create a robust 2022 strategic business marketing plan to help you achieve your goals for the year.
Even before you set your goals, you need to understand your “why.” Simon Sinek, author of the book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, wrote, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
Your “why” is what gets you out of bed every morning and what keeps you moving forward when things get tough. So take some time to reflect and define your why.
In this short video, Simon Sinek shares a fun way to help you find your why.
Now that you understand your “why,” you can begin to set your goals if you have not done so already. You need to know where you want to go before creating the roadmap to get there.
You have probably heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals. Smart is an acronym for a proven formula to set goals.
S – Specific – creating well-defined goals increases your chances of accomplishing them.
M – Measurable – determine the key indicators to achieve your goals.
A – Achievable – ensure you have the skills and resources to accomplish your goals.
R – Relevant – align your goals with your overall objectives and the reality of the market.
T – Time-bound – give yourself deadlines for the accountability of your goals.
As you start to formulate your goals, you will want to answer questions to help you accomplish each part of the formula.
To make your goal specific, answer these five “W” questions; what, why, who, where, and which.
What is the end result, what do you want to accomplish?
Why is this goal important?
Who will need to be involved in the accomplishment of your goal?
Where will you accomplish this goal?
Which resources or skills will you need?
Now think about what key indicators you will need for your goals. Questions to consider for a measurable goal are:
How much?
How many?
By what means will I know when I have accomplished my goal?
To achieve your goals, you need to be clear on what you need. Questions to consider are:
How can I accomplish this goal?
What resources or skills do I need?
How feasible is my goal?
Creating a relevant goal is ensuring that the ideal matters to you. The questions you should ask are:
Does this seem worthwhile?
Is the timing right?
Does this align with my desires or needs?
Is it attainable in the current business climate?
And finally, you want your goal to be time-bound. Adding deadlines to your goals keeps you accountable but helps you break the goal down into tasks. The questions to consider are:
When can I complete this goal?
What can I do in six months?
How much can I do in six weeks?
What can I do today?
Setting your goals using the S.M.A.R.T. method will provide you with the clarity, focus, and motivation to achieve them. If a goal is not right for you at this time, keep a list of future goals and ideas that you can work on at a later time.
Now that you have your goals set, you can move on to create your strategic business marketing plan which we will discuss in our next blog. This previous blog post discusses different categories you may want to include in your marketing plan.
Virtual Professional Solutions can help you create a custom strategic business marketing plan and help you implement it. Schedule a free 20-Minute discovery call to explore our various packages and find which one is right for you.
