Designing an Achievable Goal

It's just like I told one of our designers on Friday as we walked out to our cars, "One week down, 51 weeks to go."

What are you going to do with the next 51 weeks? Are some of your New Year's Resolutions already a little out of focus? What were those again? Eat healthier. Exercise more. Make more money. Sound familiar?

Last year, one of my clients said, "If you want something different, you have to do something different."

This year do one thing different.

Look at your list of resolutions and goals for 2010. (I'm assuming you have written them down? If not, do that first.) A long list can be intimidating. Circle the one big goal that will be the biggest game changer for you in 2010. Which goal would most impact your ability to live a healthier life, or most significantly change the way you do business? Next to that goal, write down why it's important. Maybe you really can achieve that, but so what? What's going to change?

Maybe your big goal is a business or marketing goal? Launch that new service package. Redesign your website to drum up more leads. Reposition your company. Leverage social media. Or simply create a real marketing plan in 2010.

Anyone who's been through a goal-setting workshop is probably familiar with the concept that to be achieved, goals first need to be S.M.A.R.T.

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Actionable
R - Realistic
T - Time-bound

That's a great starting point, but my guess is 99% of your goals last year were "S.M.A.R.T." and you still failed to achieve most of them. Why is that?

This year, do one thing different. Choose that single, most impactful goal and tell everyone about it. You may even try creating fun, positive and negative consequences for your performance. "If I do X on time, I'll reward myself with a new laptop. And if I don't do X, I'll owe my whole office a steak dinner." What would your rewards or consequences be?

Or try another approach. Condense your goal down to one word, print it out and post it on your wall, your desk, or your bathroom mirror. Focus on your one thing.

This year, my one big goal is to write a book. I've been talking about it for years. This year I'm actually going to get it done. Here's why. First, having a book will be a great asset for our business. And second, I made a deal with a friend of mine who is also "writing a book." We agreed that we would hold each other accountable to have a complete first draft of our books finished by July 1, 2010. He recommended that if it wasn't a short-term goal (in this case, six months) we'd put if off until the end of the year. But since July is already near, we have no choice but to get going.

In addition to being able to push one another towards this goal, we've also created some really ridiculous consequences for not achieving our goals (I won't give too much away, but the bet involves getting a tattoo and teaching a class in drag). So far, I already have one chapter written. That's one chapter more than I wrote in the past few years. All in all, not a bad start.

Think about your one big goal.

How are you going to get there?

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On Paper. On Purpose. 5 Steps to Designing your 2010 Marketing Budget.

My wife and I are taking a class called "Financial Peace University" which is Dave Ramsey's 12-week course that teaches families to shed debt and save money. Last week was the "budget" lesson. Although Dave's suggestions are geared specifically for home life, I saw immediate applications for designing a more efficient marketing budget.

"On paper. On purpose." That's how the popular radio talk show host recommends creating a budget. Every dollar gets a name. Money is set aside for specific purposes and should be used for that purpose only. Surprisingly, most American families don't have a budget. Even more surprising, many businesses that I talk to don't have a marketing budget. If this sounds familiar, here are five steps to get you started in the right direction.

1. Set Goals. What are your business goals for 2010? Rank them in order of importance.

2. Commit To An Amount. What is your company willing to invest to hit those goals? A conservative budget is approximately 2-4% of gross sales. Using this example, a $10 million company will invest $200-400,000 to support their current level of sales. More aggressive, consumer-focused companies often spend 10% or more annually on marketing. If you're aggressive and looking to grow, consider these formulas from Fast Comapany. Scale these figures to best fit your goals.

3. Categorize Your Needs. Make a list of your current marketing initiatives and any new initiatives you wish to implement in 2010. Will this plan support all of your goals? Do you foresee any holes or wasted dollars?

4. On Paper. On Purpose. Now that you have established your goals, total budget, and marketing initiatives, it's time to start building your marketing plan. Allocate the appropriate funds to each category. Some items may be paid for in lump sums, and others will be paid for monthly. Design this into your budget.

5. Opportunity Fund. Finally, be sure to allocate a category in your budget for un-planned marketing opportunities. These funds could be used for a new interactive or social media opportunity, or maybe even an emergency reprint of your company brochure. Either way, you can usually expect new opportunities to present themselves in the coming year. Even Dave Ramsey recommends having a "blow money" category in your personal budget - it's kind of the same concept.

So in review: set goals, commit to an amount, categorize your needs, get it on paper, on purpose, and be sure to reserve a few bucks for opportunities that present themselves. Happy budgeting!

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Be Bold in 2009

Welcome to 2009.

With my impressive powers of deduction, I have surmised that next year will be 2010... Yikes. So my question is, when 2010 rolls around, where do you want your business to be?

Of course if you're paying any attention to the media, you may have noticed things in the marketplace these days are potentially challenging at best. People often ask me "Is the downturn affecting your business?" I usually respond (somewhat coyly) with, "Actually, we've decided not to participate in the downturn."

In reality, our business is doing better than ever. We are blessed to have a great list of aggressive clients who also see this market as we do: an opportunity. Our current core clients realize that today is not the time to sit back and just "see how things go." That's a great way to watch your competitors blow past you. Today is also not the time to just throw money at all things marketing. Now is the time for calculated, planned action.

Stepping up in this market requires choosing to be bold. 2009 will be what we choose to make of it. And the best way to choose a good outcome for 2009 is to take some time to think about it. Here's the most grossly over-simplified, step-by-step solution I can offer.

1. Choose to be bold. Choose to succeed in 2009.
2. Set bold business goals. Review them daily.
3. Create marketing strategy (and budget) to accomplish those goals.
4. Align marketing tactics to support those strategies.
5. Create a calendar-based plan to follow your strategies.
6. Review your progress regularly, and adjust accordingly.

You may have noticed I didn't mention positioning, design, branding, or interactive media? There's no mention of establishing your brand's voice or look and feel? All of those things are very important, and I'll touch on those in the following months. However, the first thing I want you to do this year is to choose to succeed. Be bold.

Are you up to the challenge?

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