As the year begins, businesses all over the world have renewed (or established) the goals that they are aiming to achieve. Whether you want to increase yearly profits by 20%, open a new location, hire an additional person, or even find a way to take more time off, you’ll have to chart out a road map that will ultimately get you to your desired destination. That’s the part of achievement that trips a lot of people up; the more ambitious your goal is, the more work (and creativity) you’re going to have to put in in order to achieve it. If you want to exceed even your wildest goals, you’re going to have to break out of the mud of convention.
Being successful doesn’t necessarily require you to do something completely radical and untested. In many cases, applying existing models in a way that you haven’t yet tried is enough to make your dream a reality. For example, if you aren’t making much use of social media, now might be the time to open up a new Instagram account. This, and many other methods, will go a long way towards accomplishing every goal you set out to meet well before the year ends!
The business community offers tons of resources that will help you get started. You’re never alone, no matter what industry you work in – and this article will help you take the first meaningful step in the new year.
1) Use the power of social media
This bears mentioning twice. What makes social media such a powerful platform is that it has the potential to generate huge amounts of positive (or negative!) publicity with minimal effort. Instead of investing in expensive advertising campaigns, you can instead create and upload a video that goes viral and exposes your brand name to millions of people across the world. If you don’t have a Facebook or Instagram account, look into starting and maintaining one. A blog can be a great way to relate to customers on a personal level and expand upon everything that you stand for as a company. Twitter and Snapchat can also be useful as well. People from every country on Earth use these platforms, so join them!
2) Create lists
Words are fleeting; they are easy to say, but they fade away and leave no trace of their existence. If you merely state your goals verbally, it’s easy to blow them off and forget what it was that you hoped to achieve. Put your words to paper, and they will now exist in a much more real, tangible format. Each week, create and/or update lists of everything that you need or want to have accomplished. Mark off the things that you have accomplished, and make a physical note of what you haven’t. By creating lists, you’ll not only be reminded of what it is that you set out to accomplish, but you’ll be able to SEE your progress throughout days, weeks, months, and even years. That is an incredibly motivating feeling, one that many entrepreneurs swear by!
3) Start using analytics
Analytics involve the careful analysis of data. Generally speaking, you’ll construct a set of statistical models based upon all the information you collect regarding your customer’s spending habits, browsing, search queries, and so forth. Analytics are used to better target and pinpoint exactly what it is that your customers want and respond to. Many businesses have failed because they failed to capture exactly what it was that their customers wanted and liked about their business. If you want to ensure that you maintain the loyalty of your existing clientele while accurately targeting new customers, analytics are a great tool to make that happen.