Get a jump start to the New Year with goal setting

If you’re like me, you are probably wondering how it is already the middle of December. And you might be asking yourself, did I accomplish everything I set out to do this year? After becoming a new parent in 2008 and all the hectic things that come along with parenthood, my family decided to tackle 2009 by setting goals, much like we do for our clients at GroundFloor Media in order to stay on track.

As John Lennon once said, “"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” We certainly found this to be true, but by staying on top of our goals and being flexible throughout the year, we managed to achieve some of our goals and readjust when necessary.

At GroundFloor Media, setting measurable goals at the onset of any communications campaign is vitally important. For us, these measurable communications objectives (qualitative and quantitative) must be tied to measurable business objectives; this allows us to ensure the tactics and strategies implemented continually map back to the overarching goals. There are times we have to refine our clients’ objectives in the middle of the project or campaign – maybe a client’s competitor launched a similar product, a new social media network emerged or the organization’s business goals were revised – to ensure we consistently deliver ROI.

While it may be easier to review and evaluate your organization’s business and communications objectives, I would strongly encourage you to run through a similar exercise in your personal life. People say goal setting encourages responsibility, achievement, decision making, personal growth and prioritization. Based on this, I think it would be an effective way for you to jump start the New Year.

~ Jennifer Wills