Successful Marketing Begins With The End In Mind?

Begin with the End in Mind

Begin with the End in Mind

One of the most famous motivational coaches/speakers/authors is Stephen R. Covey. In his most popular book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the second of the seven habits is “Begin with the End in Mind.”

Covey’s point is when we start with a clear destination in our mind of what we want to become, we develop an inner vision of that goal and all of our conscious efforts will be directed toward achieving it.This principle is also relevant in marketing. Having clear goals for your business will ultimately guide you to figuring out the best marketing strategy to achieve those goals.

Most People Are Just Too Busy to be Truly Successful

Most of us find it rather easy to busy ourselves. We work hard to achieve victories – promotions, higher income, more recognition. But we don’t often stop to evaluate the meaning behind this busyness, behind these victories – we don’t ask ourselves if these things that we focus on so intently are what really matter to us.

Habit 2 suggests that, in everything we do, we should begin with the end goals in mind. Envision your successes and take control of your own destiny. In this way, we can make sure the steps we’re taking are ultimately leading us to secure that vision.

As Covey says, “It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busyness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover that it’s leaning against the wrong wall.”

What do you want your marketing to accomplish? What are your marketing goals? And how do they align themselves with your overall business goals?

The quick answer might be, “I just want to increase sales.” But, I would challenge you to be more specific than that. How much do you want to increase sales? 10%? 20%? And what type of sales are you looking for? Is there a particular product that you would really want to sell more than another? Or do you have a particular service that you would want to promote more than another?

When Setting Goals, Be Sure to Set SMART Ones

When we develop a marketing plan for a client, we always want to set clear objectives as to what needs to be accomplished. Our agency, uses the acronym of “SMART” in setting objectives for our client’s marketing.

  • “S” is for Specific. Be specific about your goals.
  • “M” is for Measurable. Are these goals that you can measure and quantify?
  • “A” is for Attainable. You have to be somewhat realistic. You want to push the envelope, but you also want to be realistic so that it is possible to achieve these goals.
  • “R” is for Relevance. Of course you want the goals to be relevant and add value to your business through your marketing objectives.
  • “T” is for Time-bound. You want to be specific about when these goals need to be achieved, so you have firm deadlines to focus on. Focus your efforts to take action every day.

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