Work S.M.A.R.T., Not Hard

“Work smart, not hard” is a bold statement. Very genuine and suitable for many situations and fields. 

But what exactly is it to work smart? Napoleon said, “divide and conquer.” 

This applies differently in the modern battlefield version called business, with the acronym S.M.A.R.T., which stands that a goal must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. 

Setting smart goals for your business is crucial. Like journalism, similar answers the questions of what, who, when, where, and why to tell a factual story.

If you don’t know the acronym S.M.A.R.T., here is how to apply it to your business objectives. 

Specific 

To achieve your objectives, you first need to define them carefully. Usually, this is where most businesses fail, in the very first step. Setting broad and vague goals equates to trying to hit ants with a shotgun; you surely will miss it.

S.M.A.R.T. goals should be as detailed as they can be. “Increase our website visitors” is very wide and open. Try something like “Increase our website’s number of visitors by expanding online advertising presence with a new google ads strategy.” 

We already have a better guide plan, including what needs to be done and who will do it. It is better if you can designate a person or team to the task of staying on top of the business google ads account.

Measurable

Now it is a matter of how you will accomplish your goal. Set a way to measure results and efforts. This action will allow you to keep track of your advances or adjust. 

“Increase our website number of visitors by expanding our online advertising presence with a new google ads strategy to attract 5000 new visitors” This is starting to take form. Here it’s already answered how much it’s planned to grow. 

Attainable

The next step is to be realistic. Are 5000 new visitors achievable for your business, according to your market, area, product, or services? 

It’s about taking concrete steps towards success; start with a number that’s challenging but down to earth. And you can summarize a little. “Increase our website number of visitors to 2000 a month by implementing a new google ads strategy with optimized PPC management“.

Another fact to face here is whether you or your team have the time and resources to complete this task. Delegate whenever things get complicated, and your workload is too heavy.

Hire an expert to help you with some facets of your goal. In this case, hiring external PPC management services or a specialized AdWords management agency can make this goal more attainable.

Relevant 

Why are you making adjustments? A fundamental question for this stage. “We are adding a new line of clothing made with recycled fabrics. We need to increase our website number of visitors to 2000 a month by hiring a PPC management agency to help us implement a Google Ads strategy to generate more leads and potential conversions for this new line.”

Time-Based

It’s essential to set a deadline or an expected date of start; without this, efforts may faint away, and your team will be disorganized or, worst, procrastinating doing the work for this specific goal. 

A finished S.M.A.R.T. goal should look like this: “We are adding a new line of clothing made with recycled fabrics. We need to increase our website number of visitors to 2000 a month by hiring a PPC management agency to help us implement a Google Ads strategy to generate more leads and potential conversions for this new line by the end of December 2022”.

The order is not necessarily obligated. You can shift and start with your why and then set a deadline or whichever structure you feel suits best. 

Keep refining until you feel it is compelling and complete. You can write it in the first person or make it sound like a conversation, whichever suits you best. Don’t miss any of the five elements; you need them all together.

Mrkt360 is a Toronto Google Ads company working with clients all over Canada. Visit our website or reach out to one of our experts today.