Experts reveal 30% increase in searches for ‘business goals’
Digital marketing agency shares how businesses can meet their goals
The current financial climate has forced businesses across industries to re-assess business strategies and future goals. Many are re-evaluating their journey to success, whether their goals are performance, data-driven, cultural or internally focussed. Struggles with employment, paired with the soaring cost of living and materials, have started to impact even the strongest business models, and many are shifting the way they measure success and set goals.
Following a 30% increase¹ in interest for the search term ‘business goals’ between June 2020 and June 2022, digital marketing and website development specialist Fishtank Agency has shared insights on how businesses can meet their goals.
1. Find your USP (unique selling point)
Identifying a USP is crucial across all business sectors, especially those that operate in highly competitive markets, and understanding what makes your business unique can help you focus on what's important. This could be various categories such as price, location, values
or capabilities of your business.
Matt Devall, Senior Account Manager at Fishtank, commented: “Every business is unique, but it can be difficult to understand what that uniqueness means and how it is communicated to your potential audience. Usually, it will lie in something simple. If you manufacture
a product that no one else does, it’s easy to get lost in the benefits of the item itself and miss the obvious fact that consumers can’t buy it anywhere else.”
2. Create unique and motivating goals
Another way to meet your goals is to determine the future success of your business and strategise a plan to meet your objectives. Whilst having one primary goal may be straightforward, having various objectives of different priorities can improve productivity and contribute to more significant growth overall.
Of course, setting goals spread over the calendar year or financial year can help you see the success on a larger scale, but setting smaller goals allows you and your team to reach achievements throughout the year and maintain employee engagement and increase morale.
Matt shares: “Take inspiration from people who are goal driven, ask how they focus on what they want to achieve and understand their process. Setting goals should be easy, but it can get lost in the day-to-day tasks when growing a business.”
3. Focus on what you do well
Whilst your USP should focus on what separates your business from competitors and what you can offer that they can’t, a single-minded proposition is a compelling reason as to why a consumer would want to buy your product or use your service over others.
This should be the most important thing you want people to know about your brand and should be consistent across digital platforms. However, be careful that this message doesn’t become too repetitive and ensure that you can commit to any promises you are making.
Outsourcing Digital Marketing to Support Business Goals Case study -Crocodile Products
Crocodile Products, the market leader in the design and manufacturing of premium glass verandas, automatic garage doors and winter gardens, approached Fishtank Agency to manage and reinvent a new brand identity as part of their 12-month business strategy.
With a digital mindset in place the manufacturer understood that in order to thrive, they needed to invest in a brand identity that would support them in gaining an edge over competitors and a digital platform that could handle the fast pace growth they expect to see over the next 12-months.
To ensure maximum impact and a joined-up communication approach for their customers, Fishtank developed and refined the brand identity, and designed and built a new website with UX and UI to prioritise users’ needs as well as their attention span.
The re-brand and website design has successfully raised brand awareness, improved usability, experience, and engaged distributors and end-users resulting in a 117% growth in conversions from non-branded traffic and a 49% reduction in bounce rate.
4. Make use of expert advice and support
When wanting to achieve business success, it can be easy to try and take on too much work and want to do everything yourself. Whilst you may wish to be hands-on with all aspects of your business, this can come with a sacrifice of quality.
Utilising external support for areas outside of your specialism can boost your capabilities as a business, allow you to offer more to your consumers, and increase potential profits. This could include recruiting external accountants, marketing or content development support.
5. Think and plan ahead
‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’ is something you’ve likely heard before, but it is crucial to remember when managing your business. As the past two years have proven, companies need to have plans in place to handle unexpected difficulties.
Forward planning includes creating solutions and plans of action for possible circumstances. Some may be minor issues that can occur, whereas others may seem farfetched, but it is vital to be prepared for them should they appear. These should be reviewed on a regular
basis and updated, aligning with business changes.
6. Break boundaries to create change
Stepping out of the box and breaking boundaries can be daunting, especially in a corporate or professional sector. However, following generic trends and staying too close to competitors can cause you to fall into the background and get lost among the crowd.
It’s important to remember that you will not come up with anything genuinely innovative by sticking to the status quo. Remember that the likes of global giants such as Amazon or Apple had to start by breaking boundaries and doing things differently; the same applies to the majority of successful businesses.
7. Develop your network beyond your immediate locality
Although asserting your business in the local area can be beneficial for brand awareness, you could be limiting your pool of potential customers. Make the most of networking opportunities to broaden your business audience and offer your service across the country.
Social media can be a great way to target wider consumers who may not come across your business based on location. Likewise, it can be a great way to target an international audience if relevant to your business and service offering.
8. Always be ready for new opportunities
Being reactive in your sector is a great way to secure positive results fast and establish yourself or your brand as a leader in your industry. For example, if a trending topic in the news adgenda or on social media is relevant to your business or sector, be prepared
to comment on it as soon as possible as this can increase brand visibility and enhance credibility through thought leadership.
Even if there are no opportunities to provide comments, being reactive across your social media channels or content on your website can help see a significant improvement in engagement.
9. Ensure that your team are well looked after
While having tangible goals in place can help your team's productivity and work ethic, it can put pressure on your team, which they may not show. Although it’s essential to keep your staff aware of goals and motivate them to reach them, remember that these goals
may not always be achieved.
Excessive pressure on staff is guaranteed to cause a drop in productivity and may cause damage to employee retainment. If your goals are not achieved, use it as an opportunity to look for different ways of working and get feedback from your team members on what would
help them.
10. Celebrate your achievements
On the other hand, when goals are achieved, those involved should be celebrated and given credit for the work they have put in and the results they have accomplished. This can be forgotten, especially when working in a fast-paced environment, but it can significantly
benefit staff morale and workplace culture.
Setting time to highlight your successes can be done differently depending on your team. You may wish to hold regular meetings, such as monthly or quarterly, to gather your team and celebrate recent achievements.
Matt Devall commented: “The events of the last two years and the current cost of living crisis have likely caused the plans and goals of many businesses to change. Whilst many are still working on returning to their previous levels, business owners must look at
the current situation differently; their current goals will likely differ from those they had a few years ago.
“Whilst competitor and industry research are helpful to get a more extensive understanding of the current business landscape; it’s vital to view every brand and business as a separate entity and ensure their goals are unique to them and what their future business looks like to them.”
Sources:
Search volume data correct as of June 2022 for ‘business goals’ (June 2020 - June 2022)
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