GOALS and BUDGET: The Second Step in Creating a Marketing and Business Plan Worth Implementing in the New Year

Now that you’ve considered your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and taken a deep dive into the good and bad of the last year, it’s time to start planning what you want to accomplish in the upcoming new year. Where do you start? Well, you’re not quite ready to begin coming up with marketing strategies and business tactics to make it a great year, but you can come up with goals and a budget that you’ll be referencing when it is time to outline your new business plan.

Create Goals

Now, I’m sure you’re fantastic at setting goals for yourself, but maybe not in the way that we’re going to be discussing. Have you ever heard the term SMART goals? SMART goals are thrown around a lot in the marketing world, and they’re critical when creating a measurable and successful business and marketing plan. SMART is an acronym for ​​Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound goals.

• Specific – Most of us are pretty vague when it comes to setting goals for ourselves. We think it gives us some wiggle room if we can’t stick to our goals, but this is detrimental when creating goals for your business. If a goal isn’t specific, it becomes harder to come up with tactics that you can measure to see if you’re meeting that goal. A specific goal makes your next steps clear.
  • Ambiguous goal: I want more leads.
  • Specific goal: I want more leads that found me through my website.
• Measurable – Your goals need to be measurable so they can be tracked. With measurable goals, you can adjust the tactics you’re using if you’re not seeing the results you want or increase the goal you set if you exceed your previous goal.
  • Specific goal: I want more leads that found me through my website.
  • Specific goal that is measurable: I want 25 leads that found me through my website.
• Attainable – It’s wonderful to have large aspirations, and you can even set goals for yourself to accomplish in X number of years, but when setting goals you can accomplish within one year, be realistic about what your time, energy, and funds allow. Attainable goals will keep you motivated to hit the goal, rather than feeling like it’s too hard and useless to even try.
  • Specific goal that is measurable: I want 25 leads that found me through my website.
    • If your website has been giving you 10-15 leads in the last three months of the year, looking to get 25 leads is attainable.
• Relevant – Your goals should help you move in the direction you want your business to go. You can devote your time and energy to all kinds of marketing strategies, but which ones will work for you? Those are the ones you need to focus on.
  • Specific goal that is measurable and attainable: I want 25 leads that found me through my website.
    • How does this help you build the business you want? If you’re hoping to be the leader in real estate and where people turn for answers, your website will be the first place they turn. If you’re hoping to be the only real estate agent your clients recommend, it’s likely that your website will be one of the places they direct people to learn more about you. In both of these cases, your goal is relevant to who you want yourself and your business to be.
• Time-Bound – ALWAYS give yourself a specific amount of time to accomplish your goal. A time element motivates you to take steps to accomplish your goal every day and gives you data to track. This data is super important in tracking your progress and success and will help you create new goals.
  • Specific goal that is measurable, attainable, and relevant: I want 25 leads that found me through my website.
  • Specific goal that is measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound: By the first quarter of the new year, I want to be producing 25 leads from my website each month.

Budget

Before you can come up with tactics and strategies to help you meet your goals, you need to plan out how much you’re willing to spend. Budgeting out your funds will help you figure out the most important tactics to focus on and where your money should go. Have an amount you’re willing to spend and keep a “final push” budget. This “final push” budget will cover any emergencies, last-minute tactics needed to help you accomplish your goals, or things you didn’t account for in the beginning. 

If you’re having trouble coming up with successful marketing strategies or you’d like us to weigh in on what you should focus your time and energy on, contact Agent Operations. We’re here to help make you SHINE in the new year. You can reach a member of our team at (512) 400-2345 or [email protected].