Goal Posts for Your Business Brand

Goal posts measure success in many sports. 

Creating your own goal posts is critical to your business success.

Sports goal posts seek a destination of winning a title for that sport. Competing in the championship game and winning a bonus.  Our business goals must be centered around a destination as well.  Whether it’s selling more tires, coaching more students, or writing more books, your destination must be more than having more money. Vague goals, such as “find more customers”, can leave your business owners, investors and staff feeling over-extended without a clear focus or unsatisfied without substantial evidence of achievement.

What is your goal?

What do you desire to achieve with your business and how will you get there?

Your goals will drive your marketing plan, help you identify your strengths, opportunities, and outcomes. And provide clarity for your Brand.

A brand marketing strategy is an explanation of what you are trying to achieve. It outlines what you want to accomplish with your marketing efforts.

There are four major goal-setting formulas most entrepreneurs use.

1. Time-based goals. 
   • Long-term are focused on the big picture over many years.
   • Short-term allows you to break your long-term goals into more manageable sections. They are clearly defined and easy to measure.
2. Performance-based goals
   1. Short-term objectives set for specific duties or tasks.
3. Quantitative vs Qualitative Goals
   1. SMART goals are quantitative, as they are based on numbers of statistics.  Qualitative are more subjective as they are based on a quality outcome which is defined by the recipient and viewed differently by each.
4. Outcome vs Process-oriented goals.
   1. Outcome is the result you’re seeking.
   2. Process-oriented goals are more immediate and tangible. They keep you moving toward your desired outcome.

We encourage SMART Goals as they promote being Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timebound. Using this method helps prevent vague goals.

Over the years, our clients have reached out to get help with various aspects of being an entrepreneur. Their expectations for our coaching and support have been phrased like these.

I want to:

• Develop the skill to run a more successful business.
• Learn business strategies and the ability to not feel like I’m floundering.
• Improve my COGS, Inventory and Accounting skills as well as marketing and production.
• Learn how to be successful.

All are vague goals and mostly unachievable as they are written. The key problem is they lack focus. Having a business needs to be focused on one idea and it needs to match “What Do I Want to be Known For?”

This is where journal writing can help in so many ways. Sit and write about your focus with a clear outcome over a short period of time. Try writing in response to these questions:

• What am I trying to do and by when?
• What results and desired outcomes do I want to achieve?
• What are my three-year goals?

That one thing you are trying to achieve should come naturally. Acknowledge what you want to be known for and align that with a career that highlights it.

When you have identified your focus, you can start writing about your SMART goals. Try writing out your goal using the SMART goal headings.

Specific – use real numbers with real deadlines.

Measurable – your goal is trackable.

Attainable – it is challenging but possible.

Realistic – Be honest with yourself.

Timebound – Give yourself a deadline.

Use your Journal and “Write to Your Success”. Your notes will be available in the future, and you can track your progress.

Remember, a business solves a problem, and the solution may change over time. This results in your changing the solution you offer, and you may need to repeat these steps. That could occur annually, quarterly, or long-term. Knowing where you came from will help you determine where you want to go and how to get to what you want to be known for.

Need help? Schedule a 30 min. complimentary coaching session.