How effective can goal setting be?
Are you stuck in the process of planning out your marketing strategy 2015? Many small business owners realize that marketing is going to take time and a lot of planning. You might have some great ideas on how to promote your next product or service but which idea is the right one to get started with?
Think like a German Soccer National Team
It pains me to say this, with no disrespect to the German national soccer team, but I am a “die-hard” Argentine national soccer fan. (In my childhood, I even dreamed of meeting the great Diego Maradona in person – much like meeting Michael Jordan or Mark Cuban for some!). As hard as it was to swallow the defeat of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil to the German team, the credit goes all to the goal planning.
How they did it
Germany didn’t tell themselves they would win the world cup just because they thought they could do it. They had to start with 3 simple logical steps:
•Any goal is better than no goal
• A specific goal is better than a broad goal
• A hard and specific goal is better than an easy goal
When you think about it, if you don’t get started with any goal you are still stuck. Also, getting specific and more complicated goals are easier to work with then broad ones. Don’t you agree? With these nuggets in place they could aspire to a strategy as long as they knew what course of action they were going to take. So they set out on achieving each goal by defining each particular stage;Think Big, Act Small, Move Quick.
Think Big
Win the World Cup
Act Small
Develop national youth soccer program, Identify top youth talent, Increase funding for high school programs, Attach best players to professional club teams.
Move Quick
Launch youth soccer program in 2002, Start funding for high school programs in 2003, Win the world cup in 2014
Goal setting for marketing works in much the same way. Break down your ideas into smaller segments by identifying what matters most to you intrinsically. What is going to make it worth your time to plan out your thoughts and strategies to see that thing come to fruition?
Setting marketing goals
I just finished charting out my first quarter (Q1) blog content and offers a couple of weeks ago. Although it took a couple of glasses of wine and a few albums of Bach and Mozart (don’t ask me why but it’s easier to write to!), I did it by breaking down the components of each of my service offerings with supporting promotional strategies for each activity.
How did I even start?
Creating marketing goals for small businesses take some getting used to. Remember the German nugget #1? Any goal is better than no goal. If you don’t commit to writing out at least one goal out along with supporting strategies, its hard to identify how it will look and what result you think it will produce by the end of the time frame you give it. What kinds of goals are you struggling with? What kinds of things are you struggling with to chart out your first quarter’s activities? Are your objectives clear?
Source: http://www.inc.com/david-van-rooy/how-germany-leveraged-goal-setting-principles-all-the-way-to-the-2014-world-cup-.html
