I’ve been an entrepreneur and PR strategist for quite some time. And one thing I know for sure: PR is the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way for you to grow your business — while establishing yourself as an authority (aka: superstar) in your industry.But how do you make sure your PR efforts are aligned with your business goals? To make PR a profitable endeavor you need to match your PR action plan to your overall business goals. And not just any kind of goals, we’re talking SMART goals!

SMART Goals!

The first time that I was introduced to SMART goals was back in my PR agency days over 10 years ago when I was at Edelman (the number one PR agency in the world). At Edelman we had to set smart goals for ourselves every quarter and at the end of the quarter we would sit down with our supervisor to see how many we’ve achieved. 

And ever since I was first introduced to SMART goals concept, it’s something that I’ve implemented with all of my PR clients to make sure that everything that we do in PR is helping the bottom line in their business. 

Let’s walk through setting SMART goals and how to make an effective action plan for achieving your business and PR dreams

Specific

You want to be able to define what you’re doing with this goal as much as possible. What is your business goal? Who is involved, where will it be happening? Meaning if your business goal is to grow your email list, it would be happening in your email list, on your website or landing pages.

Why are you doing this and which constraints do you have? Just like in PR, specificity always trumps generalities when it comes to SMART goals. 

[bctt tweet=”Just like in PR, specificity always trumps generalities when it comes to SMART goals”]

Measureable 

Next we want to make our SMART goal quantifiable, aka saying you want to “increase your income” is not enough. Let’s be precise and exact. 

As a bonus, making your SMART Goal measurable will help you stay motivated along the way because you get to track the progress that you make and measure the outcome. 

Questions you want to ask yourself, are how will you know that you accomplish this? How many and how much?

Achievable

A SMART goal must be achievable and attainable. Questions to get you on the right track:

• Do I have the resources and capabilities to achieve the goal? If not, what am I missing?
• Have others done it successfully before? Success leaves clues. 

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Think about how you’re going to achieve this goal. Really map out how that you’re going to make it happen. It’s completely ok to not know how exactly you’re going to make this happen. Your SMART goal is something you’ve never done before. This is unchartered territory!! 

Feeling stuck on the how? Check out Brooke Castillo’s podcast episode all about Do Goals. Brooke lays out the step-by-step process of setting“Do Goals” and explains how you can use this simple process to accomplish ANYTHING you want in life.

Brooke Castillo is the queen of helping figure out ways to realize goals and work towards them. The achievability of your SMART goal should be stretched to make you feel challenged, but defined well enough that you can actually achieve it. You want to balance it so you’re not doing something that’s way, way out of reach. Like I want to make $1 billion in the next 24 hours. 

If you’re torn between how high to set your goal, always go in the direction of the goal that feels a bit out of reach. That makes you feel a tad uncomfortable and maybe gives you butterflies.

Relevant

My favorite aspect of smart goals is this phase, relevance. Your SMART goal is meaningful and also inspiring enough to motivate you to succeed.

•  Ask yourself is this goal worthwhile?
• How is this SMART goal helping meet your business needs in the long-term and short-term?  
• What are the positive benefits you’ll get with this goal?
• Why are you setting this goal now?

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After your SMART goal(s) are set for your business and you’re dreaming up your PR wins, remember that relevance is key.

This is the number one area I see people waste thousands of thousands of dollars and buckets of time, they are chasing after audiences that aren’t interested in what they have to offer or PR wins that are not at all relevant to their overall business needs.

Timley 

The cherry on top of your SMART goal is a clearly defined timeframe for your goal, including a starting date and a target completion date. 

This gives us urgency and motivation to achieve the goal. Ask yourself: 

Does my goal have a deadline?

By when do I want to achieve my goal?

Here’s a fact that may come as a surprise to you, the simple act of writing out your SMART goal unlocks all sorts of psychological and personal dynamics which translate to real tangible results. We’re talking more than a 100% difference in results.

SMART goals set you up for super success by making your business and PR aspirations specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. This helps push you further, gives you a sense of direction, keeps you organized and reach your goals.

You are ready to start! 

That’s why I created this free SMART Goals template. I want to show you the tools to connect your business goals to the PR opportunities that are going to help you get there. Download your SMART goals template here. 

P.S. My next post will help you put systems in place to stay on track and fit PR into your busy schedule.