Goal-setting is essential and should be something every business owner is used to if they want to be successful. It is almost impossible to grow your business if you do not have targets and goals to work towards. They need to be looked at on a regular basis, to make sure that they are still relevant and that you are still on track to meeting them. The start of a new year, and in the case of this year, a new decade, is the perfect opportunity to take another look and reevaluate if necessary. If you need some goal-setting inspiration, read on for some ideas to take you into 2020 and beyond.
Take Your Marketing To The Next Level
Marketing is one of the most important things that you can do for your business. This is how you inform your customers and clients about the products or the services that you offer, so if you do not get this right, it is going to be extremely difficult to be successful. There are plenty of elements of marketing that you can do yourself, but if you are serious about growing your business, you need to take your marketing to the next level, and the best way of doing that is getting a professional onboard to give you a hand. A startup marketing agency will know precisely what you need to do to draw those clients in and get them buying your products or using your services. You will get the outlay back tenfold if you do it right!
Reach a new target audience
While you will know (or should know!) your primary target audience, it is always worth reevaluating because the consumer market in the United States is always shifting and can sometimes surprise you. Use the data that you collect from your website analytics and, if you do not have one, research and development team, hire a consultant to find out the income, race, age, and location of your audience. While you should always have one particular focus group, there is no harm in trying to reach out to a secondary one if your resources allow.
Reach a new location or new market
While in the above point, we discussed reaching a new target audience, here we are talking about a new location or a market. If you are an online store, maybe it is worth looking at opening a traditional bricks-and-mortar store, and if you already own a physical store, maybe 2020 is the year to branch out into online sales? You could also look at moving your existing premises to somewhere bigger or better. Remember, the more accessible a store or office is, the more people will come to visit.
Up your social media game
Social media is essential these days, and if you are not active on the main ones – Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter – then you are missing out on a massive marketing and advertising opportunity. In 2019, 2.45 billion people were monthly active users on Facebook. Obviously, not every single one is in your target demographic, but some of them will be – and you need to be hitting them. ‘Doing’ social media well does not mean having massive follower numbers – they need to be engaged as well. Make an effort to post interesting and valuable content, reply to customer messages and inquiries and respond to any complaints as quickly as possible. You should try to follow the 80/20 rule on social media – 80% of the content should be from elsewhere – industry news, memes, videos etc. and 20% of your own content. See if 2020 is the year your company can go viral (for the right reasons!) on social media!
Improve your search engine rankings
If you want your website to be noticed, you need to be as high up in the search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) as possible – preferably the first page. The best way of doing this is to focus on your search engine optimization, commonly known as SEO. This literally is optimizing your content for search engines. While it may be something that you hire an expert to do, it is relatively straightforward if you want to try it yourself. Think about keywords – the words that people would type into a search engine to find your site, and then using these in your content. There is more to it than that, of course, but that is the fundamental process behind it. There are apps and other software out there, such as Yoast and Semrush, which can help you with optimizing your content.
Improve your eco credentials
The environment is a considerable concern to many people at the moment, and rightly so. It is one of the biggest crises affecting our planet, so every business, from multinational corporations to a one-man-band working on their couch needs to be taking every step that they possibly can to reduce their ecological footprint. Whether that is ridding your office of single-use plastics, going paperless or encouraging your team to car share to work, every little thing can make a difference. However, if you tell people you are going to do something, do it! Nothing gets people more irate than greenwashing and pretending you are doing your bit.
Improve your work-life balance
There is little point in having a successful business earning huge bucks if you don’t have the free time to reap the rewards, and that goes for your employees as well. Make sure that you have quality time with your family and friends away from the workplace and that you are not overworking your staff. When it does come to work, make sure the workplace is a pleasant environment – providing a comfortable space where they can have some downtime on breaks can make a huge difference to staff morale and productivity.
Can you add to these goals? Let us know how you are planning to drive your business forward in the new year.
