5 Simple Steps to Achieving your Marketing Goals for 2024

“The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.” ~ Michelle Obama

The beginning of the year is a popular time for goal-setting in our businesses and personal lives. Like many entrepreneurs who desire to grow their businesses, we set aside time to review our goals from last year and create new marketing and business goals.

Yet, it’s not all about creating those goals. Maybe even more importantly, you need to achieve your goals. Let’s take a look at 5 simple steps to stay focused on achieving your marketing and business goals.

1. Plan, Plan, Plan!

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In order to accomplish our business and marketing goals, we need to think through the steps that need to be taken to meet those goals. What smaller steps or tasks do I need to do so I can meet that goal? It is a lot harder to meet our goals when we don’t take the time to sit down and make a plan. And often they stay as a wish or dream, not an achievable goal. Set up your plan in your favourite project management system to help you track the progress and keep you accountable in reaching your goals.

2. Focus on one quarter at a time.

“We mistakenly believe that there is a lot of time left in the year, and we act accordingly. We lack a sense of urgency, not realizing that every week is important, every day is important, every moment is important. Ultimately, effective execution happens daily and weekly!” ~ Brian Moran

I don’t know about you, but I can quickly feel overwhelmed when I look at creating and working toward my goals for an entire year. I will often start the year off very motivated to get started on those new goals, but that motivation can quickly dissipate as the months come and go. I find it a lot more attainable to focus on one quarter at a time instead, to be more intentional with the action steps I need to take to accomplish my goals within a quarter (or 12 weeks) rather than over a year period. These concepts are taken from The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran. Although I have not yet read this book (it is on my list), I have taken courses that have shared many of the concepts from this book.

3. Display your goals in a visible place.

This was probably one of the downfalls I faced with my goals last year – I didn’t have them in a place to quickly look at and review, and therefore there were some goals that I did not achieve. My plan for this year is to write out and display my goals on a vision board near my desk where I can see them daily to remind myself what I am working towards. This tip is just as important as planning out the smaller, actionable steps that you need to take to achieve your goals. When you display your goals in a way that makes them visible and brings them more to life, it helps you to visualize them and keeps them top of mind.

4. Schedule time in your calendar to work on your goals.

I truly believe that the only way that you will be able to consistently work on your business is to schedule the time into your calendar and to keep those boundaries. Just like you schedule meetings with clients (and wouldn’t dare to just not show up), you may need to schedule time with yourself to work on the action steps for your goals. Whether that is setting aside a specific day each week or blocking off a full day or weekend every month or so, find a schedule that works for you to keep time and time again.

5. Track your results.

When you take the time to track the progress of your goals, you can monitor and review how well you are doing in achieving your goals and can identify what is working and what is not working. Are there tweaks that need to be made to the steps toward your goal? Or do you need to adjust your actual goal? Tracking the results of your goals can help you to stay motivated on the path towards achieving your goals, and help you to be more successful in achieving those goals.

With these 5 tips, I hope they will help you to stay focused on achieving your marketing and business goals this year.

Here is a quick recap of these 5 simple steps:

1. Plan, Plan, Plan! - Without a plan, your goals are merely desires or dreams.
2. Focus on one quarter at a time – Minimize the overwhelm by focusing on a 12-week period instead of a full year.
3. Display your goals in a visible place – Create a vision board to remind yourself daily of your goals.
4. Schedule time in your calendar to work on your goals – Make an appointment with yourself to work on your business, and keep it.
5. Track your results – Stay motivated by tracking the progress towards your marketing or business goals.

One final tip or reminder: give yourself permission to adjust or shift your goals if they are no longer moving your business in the right direction. It’s okay to change directions if needed. The most important thing is to do what’s best for you, for your mental health, and for your family. It isn’t what you see your colleagues, competitors, or fellow entrepreneurs doing. If doing your best means adapting and shifting your direction, that’s okay. Give yourself permission not only to reset but to do your best!

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