It’s 2023, new year. . .new me?
We’ve all been here before, setting goals for the new year. Sometimes we fall short. The reason might be in the goals that we set. Goals need to be realistic, they need to be SMART.
So whether you have a personal or business goal this year, the SMART goal-setting method can help you outline the steps to achieve it. But what exactly is this?
What are SMART Goals?
George T. Doran, a director of corporate planning pioneered a new way of achieving business goals. He said goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of brands and businesses have implemented his model. Here’s a quick rundown of the SMART goal-setting method.
Specific
Make your goal specific. It addresses the “What is it that I want to achieve?”, “Why is this goal important?”, and “How will I go about doing this?”.
Measurable
A measurable objective is one that can be evaluated against predetermined standards in order to see whether or not the goal has been met. This is useful for tracking your development.
Attainable
A realistic goal is one that can be completed within a reasonable amount of time, given the available information, and the effort expended. The task at hand could be difficult, but not impossible.
Relevant
Any goal that fits in with your core beliefs, areas of passion, and overall life goals are a good one. It needs to be something meaningful and important to you, your business, or your brand.
Time-bound
A time-bound objective is one that must be finished by a certain date. This is useful for keeping oneself motivated and on task.
6 SMART Goal Examples to Help You Succeed
SMART goals can be applied in almost every aspect of your life. Here are some examples where the SMART goal-setting method shines:
Smart Goal Examples for Growing on Social Media
Here’s how you might use the SMART goal-setting to improve your online presence on Social Media:
- Specific – Increase brand awareness by X% on Facebook and Instagram by using social media automation to streamline our content.
- Measurable – Track the number of new followers, mentions, and shares each month to measure progress using analytics tools.
- Achievable – Our brand increased its number of followers and engagement on social media by X% in the past 4 months, indicating steady growth.
- Relevant – Make sure the goal is aligned with your brand’s overall marketing objectives and target audience.
- Time-bound – I want to achieve this goal in the next two months.
Smart Goal Examples for Writing a Book
Translating your ideas onto a blank page can be daunting. Sometimes, you wouldn’t even know where to start. But with the help of SMART goals, you get a clear outline of what you need.
For example:
- Specific – Write a book with a working title of “X” that is X number of pages long and covers the following topics: [list of topics].
- Measurable – Write X number of pages or words each week and track your progress.
- Achievable – Set a realistic goal based on your writing experience, schedule, and the length and complexity of the book.
- Relevant – I’ve written numerous articles on [topic] and worked on [niche] for close to a decade.
- Time-bound – I plan to soft-launch my book on [date].
Smart Goal Examples for Becoming an Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs can establish marketing and sales plans that target new markets, develops new goods or services, and boosts awareness through advertising and PR.
Here are some examples of how entrepreneurs might use SMART goal-setting:
- Specific – Increase revenue by X% by expanding into new markets.
- Measurable – Track monthly sales and engagement and traffic on Instagram using Insights and Google Analytics for the website.
- Achievable – Our brand recently hit a milestone of X number of followers across our social media channels and saw steady revenue growth in the previous months.
- Relevant – I’ve always been passionate about running my own businesses and exploring new markets.
- Time–bound – I will accomplish my goal after [X number of months].
Smart Goal Examples for Completing a Project
A project can be anything in a variety of niches. In this example, we’re going to take a look at a programmer that wants to finish a new mobile app.
- Specific – Finish the beta version of the mobile app by completing the following tasks: [list of tasks].
- Measurable – I will Track my progress by completing a certain number of tasks or by reaching specific milestones each week.
- Achievable – The new API that helps users connect to my servers has been implemented and I only need to finish [area of projects that needs to be finished].
- Relevant – I’ve been working on this idea for my mobile app for a couple of months and learning new skills to streamline and improve the development process.
- Time-bound – I want to launch the beta version of my mobile app by [date] and launch the full version in the next month.
Smart Goal Examples for Boosting Sales
Brands can use SMART goals to set clear, actionable objectives for increasing business sales and to track their progress toward achieving those objectives. Here’s an example:
- Specific – Increase sales by X% by implementing a new marketing strategy for the new product launch.
- Measurable – We will track our conversion and engagement rates on our social media channels as well as analytics from our Website.
- Achievable – Based on our analytics, our marketing efforts increased our engagement rate by X% with our audience responding positively to our new product teasers.
- Relevant – Our brand has always wanted to improve our marketing and we’ve dedicated time and resources to developing new strategies to scale our business.
- Time-bound – We plan to hit our goal within the next 4 months of launching our new products.
Smart Goal Examples for Becoming an Instagram Influencer
Becoming an Instagram influencer takes a lot of work and dedication. But you can streamline the process with the help of SMART goals.
- Specific – Get the first 1000 followers by posting a variety of content regularly and engaging with my audience every day.
- Measurable – Track my follower count and engagement metrics (e.g., likes, comments, shares) each month to measure progress.
- Achievable – I already have 340+ followers with strong engagement.
- Relevant – My passions align with the content I post and my audience responds positively to them.
- Time-bound – I want to reach 1000 followers within the next 30 days.
Key Takeaways
SMART goal-setting helps us create realistic and attainable goals within a specific time frame. It provides an outline of the steps we need to take in order to achieve our goals.
Here are important things to consider regarding SMART goals:
- It helps to clarify your objectives and make them more actionable.
- SMART goals ensure that your goals are realistic and achievable, which improves your chances of success.
- You’re required to track your progress and measure your success.
- SMART goals help you to stay focused and motivated because your goals are relevant to you.
- It helps you streamline and optimize how you could achieve your goals.
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