Sunburst Success

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Category: Business goal examples

  • Breaking down marketing goals into actions

    Here I’ll break down some common marketing goals into actionable steps, to help make it easier for you to accomplish your goals. Marketing is essential to every business, but it can look vastly different.

    I will update this page with more goals after they have been featured in the Sunburst Success newsletter. If you’d like to request a specific marketing goal to be broken down, please subscribe to the newsletter and email me.

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    Goal: Create a website to attract clients

    A website is one of the easiest ways to display what you do, who you work for, and how you do it. Even if you don’t have the time to commit to a blog, a so-called “business card website” can still help potential clients find and contact you.

    Whether you want a simple one-page website or something bigger, here are some actions you could take to complete this goal:

    • Create a plan (eg. a mind map, a list, a mock-up) of what you want your website to look like or include
      • Look at competitor websites to see what other people include and common themes in your industry
      • Find some websites you can take inspiration from
    • Find a website builder that works for you
      • Common options in the UK include Squarespace, WordPress Hosting (via IONOS), and Wix
    • Decide on a domain name (your URL) and check its availability
    • Buy a domain name and hosting plan
    • Create your website or hire a web designer to create it for you
    • Write all of the copy you need, such as home page, about you, service or product descriptions
    • Create or write a Privacy Policy (the ICO have a useful tool for creating your own privacy notice)
    • Make sure everything is published and available online

    At the minimum, you now have an online presence! It will take time for it to appear on search engines, and you’ll still need to do more to make it findable to potential clients. But you can still share the link when people ask, include the link in your email signature, and add a link to your social media profiles.

    Goal: Be active on at least one social media platform

    Social media marketing is another common aspect of marketing that business owners prioritise. This goal assumes that you haven’t got an active presence anywhere yet, though you may have set up profiles for your business.

    To start being active on social media, try these steps:

    • Research which social media platform(s) are best for you and your business
      • Consider what kind of content you want to make as well as what kind of content best represents what you’re selling. Anything visual could work with photos or videos, while anything textual could work with regular posts or articles
      • Think about who you’re selling to and what content is going to convince them to buy from you
    • Pick one or two social media platforms you like and follow/connect with similar and/or local businesses
    • Look at what others, especially competitors, are posting that you could also share or create
    • Decide how often you can post to each social media platform
      • You could pick a specific day for marketing tasks, or schedule a month’s worth of posts at the beginning of each month
      • Don’t forget to include when you can spend time replying to comments or other people’s posts

    There are plenty of resources online about social media marketing. If you have the budget, it might be worth talking to a marketing consultant or hiring a social media manager who can do the posts for you. One example is Vibrant Content, a friend of mine who posts marketing tips and works as a social media marketer.

  • Breaking down financial goals into actions

    Below you’ll find some common financial goals broken down into actions, making it easier for you to accomplish your goals. It’s easy to tell yourself that this year your business will earn ££££, but it’s harder in practice. Even more so if you’re a sole trader or freelancer.

    I know; I’ve been there, and I’m still there.

    This page is updated with new additions after being featured in the Sunburst Success newsletter. If you have a request for a financial goal to break down, make sure to subscribe to the newsletter and email me your requests.

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    Goal: Earn ££££ in one financial year

    Everybody will tell you that it helps to set specific financial goals. Ideally, you should have an idea of how much money you need to earn to cover all of your business needs… and also how much you need to pay yourself.

    If you’re starting out or you feel like you’ve been struggling with this, try these steps:

    • Work out how much money you need to cover all outgoings (web hosting, email hosting, software subscriptions, marketing costs, materials)
    • Work out how much you want to pay yourself this year
    • Add the two amounts together: this is your target for the financial year
    • Create a plan for how you’ll earn this amount
      • You could break it down across all of the products and services you want to sell in a year
      • You could create a marketing plan for how you’ll gain clients
      • You could review what you’re already doing and how that translates into income
    • Set regular check-ins to review your finances
      • If monthly is too overwhelming, try reviewing every season or “quarter”
      • If monthly feels like it’s not often enough, try setting a day of the week where you handle finances, including looking at your bank account or bookkeeping software
      • Use these check-ins to understand where your income is coming from and where you could do more; you might want to set a task to complete before your next check-in, so you can review whether it works

    Remember, every business – and business owner – is different. If you set unrealistically high goals, you’re going to disappoint yourself (at best, and add extra stress at worst). If you set underwhelming low goals, you might find it too easy to achieve. Some people prefer to set “stretch goals” with income, where you first strive for the minimum you need to earn to cover business costs, then your next goal to cover your income, then your next goal can be that high goal you’d love to reach.

    Goal: gain new clients

    Every business needs clients, customers, or however else you’d like to refer to the people paying you. But this is a daunting goal and a lot of people feel lost on how to actually make progress, let alone achieve the number of clients they need.

    Here are some actions you can take to gain new clients:

    • Assess your current number of clients, including what services or products are actually bringing in income
    • Decide which services and products you want to gain more clients for; it can help to pick 2 or 3 things to sell more of
    • Think about what your ideal client is (try researching “buyer personas” or “customer profiles”) and how you might market to them
    • Set regular tasks to market to new clients
      • You could regularly post on social media about your services or products
      • You could attend a regular networking event to introduce yourself to other business owners
      • You could plan to attend industry-specific events to network
    • Take notes on what your current or past clients have said about you, and use their words (especially adjectives) when marketing yourself

    Marketing is an incredibly important part of gaining new clients, so you might find it useful to set (and break down) marketing goals that feed into this. Don’t forget the importance of testimonials and client reviews either – it’s not just “social proof”, it’s what people actually think about your work.