Setting realistic business goals gives your business a sense of direction and keeps your team accountable. Goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) allow you to stay focused and protect your business from becoming stagnant. Goal-setting should never be a one-time event. As a small business owner, you need to revise your existing strategies or implement new ones to stay in tune with the ever-changing market demands.
Table of Contents:
- Here are 10 examples of realistic and achievable goals that you can set to grow your small business
- Increase Traffic to Your Business Website or Blog
- Reduce Business Expenses
- Improve Business Quality
- Increase Business Growth
- Develop Creative Marketing Strategies and Programs
- Increase Productivity Among Employees
- Introduce New Products or Services
- Expand Your Business Premises
- Purchase Business Insurance
- Build Your Brand
Here are 10 examples of realistic and achievable goals that you can set to grow your small business
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Increase Traffic to Your Business Website or Blog
For an e-commerce business, website traffic is vital. If you own such a business, one of your primary goals should be to increase your website’s traffic by using digital marketing techniques, such as content marketing and social media marketing.
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Reduce Business Expenses
Typical business expenses include remuneration, utilities, advertisement, and supplies. While it may be difficult to do away with some expenses, you can set a goal to lower them significantly. For instance, per the Small Business Administration (SBA), a business making $5 million in revenue per year should use about 7% of it on advertising. Therefore, if your advertisement expenses are high, you can opt for economical methods such as social media marketing.
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Improve Business Quality
Business quality generally refers to the quality of your products, services, environment, and general operations. While this may take time, improving your business quality is an effective way to attract more customers and skilled employees to your business.
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Increase Business Growth
With the right measures in place, small businesses can experience significant growth every year. For example, in 2016 alone, the average growth of U.S. start-ups was 75.62%, as reported by Statista. While growth is inevitable with the right resources, you can set a goal to increase your growth rate. Some businesses grow faster than others depending on factors such as the availability of finances and competition. However, having a set of predefined goals will allow you to grow steadily and maintain momentum.
Read: Is Your Small Business Still Profitable?
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Develop Creative Marketing Strategies and Programs
As competition in the market increases, businesses are developing more creative marketing strategies in an attempt to occupy the largest market share. This means that finding new strategies and marketing programs should be one of your business goals to remain competitive in the market.
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Increase Productivity Among Employees
High productivity among your employees can contribute to business growth and maximization of profits. You must strive to keep your employees motivated, as doing so will enhance their performance and ensure greater productivity.
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Introduce New Products or Services
While your customers are probably happy with your current products, you should try to expand your business by introducing new products or services. This will increase your chances of attracting new customers while building your brand loyalty with the existing ones.
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Expand Your Business Premises
As a small business owner, you probably do not need a large space to start. However, as your business grows, expanding your premises should be your goal. This is because with an increase in your scale of operation you will need more space for storage, as well as to accommodate new employees.
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Purchase Business Insurance
Business insurance shields your business from unfortunate events such as natural disasters, vandalism, accidents, and lawsuits. Therefore, you should purchase business insurance policies such as commercial property insurance, general liability policy, and auto insurance to protect your business from unforeseen liabilities.
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Build Your Brand
To help your business stand out in the market, you need to build a personalized brand for your enterprise. Some of the ways to achieve this are by creating a logo, having a slogan, and specialty packaging for your products.
Read: 4 Effective Ways to Market Your Business in Ventura County
These are some of the goals that you can set to grow your small business. For more small business tips and resources, contact the Economic Development Collaborative. Conveniently located in Camarillo, California, we’re here to help and have a webpage devoted to resources and information on how your business can handle the COVID-19 pandemic.
