Setting Goals and Having a Marketing Strategy Will Make You Successful

Setting goals and creating a strategy that maps out how you'll reach those goals really works to help you get to where you want to go with your business. Take it from me.... Today I went for a refresher lesson on Rock Climbing. How to tie in (tie your rope), Belay (hold the rope for another) and also climb (big walls!). I hadn't been for several years and couldn't possibly belay for my partner without danger. I was anxious about going back and climbing again and hadn't rationalised the situation when I turned up this morning. I am not going to lie, it scared me! I know my partner had also forgotten how to belay so when I was climbing up the wall I was worried that i'd fall off and get really hurt.

As we moved through each exercise, It got a little bit easier. My confidence grew and my trust grew in my partners belaying. But now I had to keep climbing to the top but both confidence, fitness and lack of practice got in my way.

About half way through the refresher session my instructor asked me to look up at the wall and set myself a goal, a goal of where I would climb to. I stood back and decided to aim to climb 3/4 way up. As I started to climb I had my eye on this goal, and as I had stood and looked at the route before climbing I also had a strategy of how I was going to tackle this route to get to my goal.

I reached my goal quickly and then carried on to climb up to the very top. In doing so exceeding my goal and gaining confidence.

And so of course, I then kept setting small goals throughout the rest of the session and into our session afterwards. Some goals I reached, some I exceeded, some climbs were incredibly challenging but in not giving up I was rewarded! I was rewarded with the exhilarating feeling of reaching my targets and not taking the easy route every time. By taking harder challenges means I pushed myself further and the reward was greater.

Next Week, I'll try harder climbs and exercise more mid week to gain better fitness that's my goal! - with an overall goal of being able to climb outdoors on real rocks in May!

So what's rock climbing got to do with online marketing?

Marketing / Business

For your business you'll have an overall goal which, for example could be to sell it in 3 years or to grow it to a substantial level so you can quit your day job.

Climbing

My overall rock climbing goal is to be confident and fit enough climb outdoors in May.

Marketing

In your business it will take time and planning for you to reach your big goal so by setting yourself mini goals throughout the process that will help you work towards your overall strategy meaning that it will seem less daunting (rome wasn't built in a day!) Example Goal: you'd like to get more facebook fans and you'd like them to be targeted and engaged users - you do this to raise awareness of your brand or product to provide value so that when the time comes for them to make a purchase of your service they'll turn to you.

Climbing

By setting myself small goals like reaching 3/4 way higher or trying harder climbs I am able to build confidence, learn new skills and increase my fitness. This will take time to do just as building a business or community does.

Marketing

You'll look at your mini goals and create a strategy to determine how you'll reach them, this way you can plan for any bumps and have a clearer steer on where you are going.

Climbing

I looked up at the possible routes before climbing and determined a strategy, by doing this I set myself up for success and minimised my chances of expending too much energy by panicking.

So you see! Setting small goals and having a strategy has already helped me get closer to my overall goal and we're only 4 days into the new year! 

What can you do now?

1. Decide on your overall goal

2. Create a strategy of how you'll achieve your goals which can be broken down in to easier yet challenging mini goals such as blogging more, creating valuable content or building a community.

3. Ensure you work hard and push yourself and go beyond your boundaries, anything really worth doing is worth working really hard for to get greater results!

4. Remember to celebrate your achievements and success!

Finally! Just getting out and trying something new, being brave and doing it is better than doing nothing at all! We Try, We fail, We learn, we try it a different way and we succeed! And we now have a strategy for success!

What goals will you be setting for 2015?