The new year comes with new goals. It is time to assess and define what your business is working toward, and make sure your goals align with your direction. Set your targets and pick your method of hitting those targets.
If your business isn’t moving the direction you want it to go, now is the time to change that. If your business is moving the direction you want it to go, it is now time to ensure it continues that direction. There are many ways to improve your business and define its goals. Here are a few goals your small business should focus on this year.
Eliminate brand confusion
Clarify your brand, understand your audience, unify your marketing, and eliminate any deviations from your marketing strategy. This sounds complicated, and it can be. Break it up into multiple steps and keep them measurable to create a timeline for completing this goal. Communicating who you are to your audience is at the core of your business strategy, and if your audience is confused about who you are, take some time this year to change that.
Determine a financial strategy
A business is about much more than money, but it won’t work without it. It is essential you decide how the money you bring in will be handled before it arrives in your bank account. Last-second financial decisions tend to be bad financial decisions. And bad financial decisions lead to … well you know where they lead. Make a plan of action for the money entering your account. Again, set up milestones to make sure you are on the right path. You want to know if you are wandering off track before the end of the year hits.
Find a new marketing outlet for your business
If your business isn’t on social media, create business accounts for it. Maybe it has social media but your account isn’t being used. Start using it. If you are using social media platforms, then maybe branch out to a new one. Or start marketing through blog posts, print publications, TV/radio ads, billboard ads, or another outlet you haven’t tried yet. The options for marketing are limitless, and some will work great for your audience. But you won’t always know what works until you try. Create a plan of action for a new outlet and try it. Some goals may end up being experiments, and that’s okay. If it doesn’t work, reassess in the middle of the year and redefine the goal.
Emphasize efficiency
Find some methods to make your business process more efficient without sacrificing quality. Maybe subscribe to a new project management system, financial management system, or outsource some of the tasks that have been sucking up your time—like social media, graphic design, or other marketing. If you are overseeing the business and its goals, some of these tasks are better outsourced to someone else so you have time to focus on more important tasks.
Expand your line of products or services
If you have a service that is selling well, it is time to add another one and expand your client base. This may again be an experiment. But that is what many goals are. Add a new product or service, market it to your audience, and hopefully you will see your business grow. If not, reassess and redefine the goal.
Setting goals is a form of experimentation, but it is experimentation with thought and research involved. Instead of guessing and shooting in the dark, you are seeing the targets and trying different methods to hit those targets.
Use this new year to define those targets and create ways to hit them. Here’s to success in the new year!
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