Not having a SMART goal sets up your business for failure, as your goals will likely be unrealistic and vague.
Every business has set goals that they aim to achieve, and in most cases, this is tied to increased sales and the acquisition of more customers. However, we all know this cannot happen in a few days or months. The best thing for your business is to take these goals one at a time to achieve realistic results.
Digitalization has changed how business is done, with even traditional businesses creating avenues for online interactions. As a business owner, you want to set goals to improve your online interactions and awareness. A great way to do this is by setting SMART goals. You might wonder what smart goals are and how they differ from the usual. Let’s examine them.
S – Specific: One of the important aspects of a smart goal is specificity. By specific, your goal should be easily identifiable and not just vague. This means you must lay out exactly what needs to be done, who and what is involved, and what methods will be carried out to achieve the goal.
M – Measurable: A measurable goal is one you can quantify with performance objectives, deliverables, KPIs, and other metrics. You should be able to track progress and know how well you have succeeded with your goal. Setting up ways to measure your goal should be top of your list.
A – Achievable: Another name for the ‘Achievable’ element of goal setting is a reality check. Specific and measurable goals are often more achievable. For example, if you have a broad goal for customer acquisition, you can break this down into short achievable goals. The primary thing about an achievable goal is that it takes into consideration the significant roadblocks you may encounter to make it happen. This way, you can see your goals materialize faster.
R – Relevant: It is okay for businesses to have broad goals. However, not all goals are relevant to your business growth at that particular time.
T – Timebound: Your goals should be bound by specific deadlines and not just run off for an unlimited time. For example, you can decide that within 6 months, you’ll attract and retain 50 customers for your business. It is easier to plan this goal and evaluate yourself even before the end of the six months.
Not having a SMART goal sets up your business for failure, as your goals will likely be unrealistic and vague.
However, using this method, you can give your goals direction and organization, enabling you to reach them faster.
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1. Map Out Your Customer Personas
Mapping your customer persona is a great start to customer acquisition and retention. Doing this will give you insights into your customer base and their demographics. But beyond that, it will ensure you create messages that correctly appeal to your target audience and improve customer experience.
Knowing the different segments of your audience will help you target them accurately. A SMART goal for mapping out your customer persona can be:
Specific – I will develop 10 customer personas using existing customer data plus fictional data and use this for more targeted advising.
Measurable – I will measure my progress by evaluating how my targeted ads have changed with the help of the personas.
Achievable – I have researched and taken short courses on successfully mapping a customer persona.
Relevant – Creating these customer personas will help me understand my target audience and better ways to acquire and retain them.
Timebound: I will map out the 10 customer personas within 2 weeks and effect that on my targeted ads.
2. Develop A Unique Brand Voice
There are thousands of businesses on the internet, and one way to distinguish yourself is through your branding techniques.
There are several branding techniques to leverage, such as storytelling, corporate branding, product branding, service, and online branding.
With a great brand effect, your customers will be able to recognize your offerings easily and, with this, improve sales and revenue.
A SMART goal to help you develop a unique brand voice can go like this:
Specific – I will develop an aesthetically pleasing logo and website for my business.
Measurable – I will complete the website and logo development within a given time and evaluate the results.
Achievable – I have enough resources to pay a digital marketing team to develop my online branding targets.
Relevant – Developing my online brand tools will make my business unique enough for my target audience to recognize and patronize me.
Timebound: The logo and website development will be completed in a month.
3. Build And Maintain A Consistent Social Media Presence
A consistent social media presence is important for awareness in today’s digital world. With an active social media platform, you can effectively engage customers, entertain or educate them and help them know more about your brand.
Even if you are new to the digital business world, you can easily set up and maintain a presence on several social media platforms to remain relevant. An example of a SMART goal for building a social media presence is:
Specific – I will post 3 times a week on three social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.
Measurable – At the end of the first month, I will be able to evaluate my posting consistency on those platforms.
Achievable – I have the resources to pay a graphics designer to create designs for my brand; I will also post pictures and videos of my products.
Relevant – A consistent social media presence will help me improve awareness and engagement with my target audience, which is important to my small business.
Timebound: I will evaluate my posting consistency at the end of 1 month.
4. Build A Customer-Centric Brand
Customer experience is key to building a great brand. Customer acquisition should be one of many important goals for your business.
Building a customer-centric brand gives you a higher retention rate and can effectively make your customers your brand advocates. An example of a SMART goal toward being customer-centric is:
Specific – I will provide post-purchase services to my customers for 30 days.
Measurable – This will involve questions on how well the product is performing, and what I can do to improve the service, amongst other questions.
Achievable – I can currently engage with all my customers, as I am a small online shop hoping to grow my customer base.
Relevant – By engaging customers after they purchase products from my brand, I can convert them and ensure their complaints and concerns are addressed; I can make them loyal customers and brand advocates.
Timebound- I will conduct the initial post-purchase services for 30 days and then explore ways to implement feedback into my business.
5. Research Your Competitors
Competitor analysis is a great way for small businesses to learn strategies that work from the competition. There are several things to check out in the competition, including product features, marketing strategies, pricing, audience engagement, and customer journey.
By understanding how the competition works, you can engage with your customers better than the competition and differentiate your services from theirs. A SMART goal for researching your competitors will look like this:
Specific – I will conduct a competitor analysis on 3 of my major competitors.
Measurable – The competitor analysis will focus on their marketing strategies, customer journeys, product features, and price. The end goal is to have measured these 4 categories.
Achievable – I will research these competitors because most of the information I need is online.
Relevant – By conducting a competitor analysis, I can look at ways to differentiate my products and engage better with my target audience.
Timebound – I will conduct the competitor analysis within 2 weeks.
By setting SMART goals for your business from time to time, you’ll be successful in achieving your broad goals over time. As a business owner, making your brand visible online is a priority, and these 5 goals outlined herewith are some ways to reach your goals.
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