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It’s that day again – the last day of the calendar year that bears the entire weight of the 364 days prior, encompasses the progress compared to this day last year, and that often – very clearly- represents the end of one segment of life and the beginning of another. New Year’s resolutions are a common hobby for many people, with varying levels of sincerity linked to them. For entrepreneurs and business owners, the promise of a “new” year offers hope and concern, and no resolution will make any difference without a clearly defined strategy and measurable goals. SMART Goals for Business Growth Unlocking Market Share and Boosting Sales with SMART Goals Setting clear and actionable goals is paramount in the bustling business world, where every decision can make or break your market position. Enter the SMART goals framework—a tried-and-true method that can transform your business strategy and catapult your market share and sales to new heights. What Are SMART Goals? SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework ensures that your goals are not just lofty dreams but actionable plans that drive real results. Let’s break it down: How SMART Goals Drive Market Share Growth Boosting Sales with SMART Goals As you set your business goals for 2025, remember that SMART goals are your secret weapon. They provide a clear roadmap for achieving your objectives, ensuring that every effort is purposeful and impactful. By adopting the SMART framework, you can unlock new market share and sales levels, propelling your business towards sustained success. So, what are you waiting for? Start setting SMART goals today and watch your business grow.

Today is my birthday, and as you can guess, there is always a bit of chaos around it due to its proximity to this most wonderful time of the year. I’m used to that part, honestly, but sometimes, in the past, having a heavy workload on my bday was a bit of a bummer, especially because of all the holiday fun often going on around me. Throughout my career, I have enjoyed working with many brands and companies, large and small. Still, while I have always had a strong work ethic, I didn’t always enjoy my work or its effect on the world, which made having to work on this particular day a bit more like drudgery. So, you ask, how is my birthday so far this year? I’m having a ball. 🙂 This year has marked a year of growth and expansion for WriteMinded Digital Marketing, full of new network connections, meaningful relationships with industry powerhouses, new exciting and diverse clients, and some incredible conversations with truly impressive and innovative brands. So far this morning, my youngest child has made me breakfast, the hubs got me my favorite coffee drink, and I received a great gift from a faraway friend that included a bottle of vintage champagne. But that’s not even the best part! I have been in proposal mode all morning for two different premium brands launching their US targets in 2025. I’ve got my marketing mind and creative juices flowing, building bespoke and holistic marketing plans to get these incredible companies in front of the US consumer market and doing all the analytics research. KPI goals that come with that process. I LOVE Being a Marketing Strategy Master Builder Outside of seeing our clients succeed, this is my favorite part of my day-to-day work life. Using analytics and research to build results-focused marketing strategies and creative outlines to grow brands feeds my right and left-brained happy places. I love identifying the opportunities in the market, building messaging plans that show off our clients “WHY,” and building the case for our recommended plan using data and realistically set KPIs. I geek out in the best way. I am an odd blend of a numbers person with a creative bent. I understand that the data available at our fingertips in digital marketing allows us to hone in on targets and messaging, campaigns, and content with a laser focus. We can be strategic and intentional with our creatives, targeting, and content and build effective and traceable plans using analytics tools to drive results proactively. We build calendars for all assets in play- timing is as important as targeting and messaging/creative – to ensure consistency and drive engagement. We track all tactics in play to ensure performance continues to build. This is Writeminded Digital’s WHY. It is why I launched the business in 2009 – to use data and analytics, research and recon, to build bespoke, custom marketing and branding campaigns for small and mid-sized companies looking to grow their market share, expand into a new market, launch a new service or product or get on the chess board in their vertical. We are a unique and quirky blend of data-and-sales-minded marketers, designers, writers, and developers who know that the WHY is the best marketing hook any brand has to gain traction. Our processes unearth two or three unique differentiators that matter to our client’s target audiences, and we build campaigns, ads, articles, and posts around that unique message. We then tie our campaigns to analytics tools and set realistic KPIs so we can watch the effects of our work proactively. So, as I sit in my one-year-older body, diving down research rabbit holes to build the best mousetrap possible for our new clients, I’m actually smiling and happy in my work and thankful for that fact. What’s My Point? The point of this post is to find what you love about your daily grind and find a way to do it as often as possible to drive your creative and strategic self forward. When you love what you’re doing, it never feels like work. It’s an outlet to highlight your exceptional skills and build something great. The benefits will show for you, your professional growth, and your business! What’s YOUR favorite part of your day-to-day? Would you be happy doing it on your own birthday?

Does this sound familiar? You have a fantastic service or product that you KNOW your target market needs. Your killer pitch has easily converted several prospects into customers. You’re growing your client base and looking to scale your business, then … The Plateau. Your sales and pipeline are chugging along, and growth seems imminent; then, it all cools off – seemingly out of nowhere. Your pipeline goes stale, new leads dry up, and your projections become hopes. So – what happened? There’s likely been a change in the market—the channels they use, what drives them to act, or even their interest in your offering. Also as likely, there’s a new competitor in the field, or a known competitor has shifted their tactics and is drowning your lead potential. This is the risk every company takes that doesn’t build their marketing strategy on competitive and market analysis or that did that due diligence at launch but has become complacent in tracking the market or competition and assumes “everyone” knows what they do and why they’re great. The fact is that 60% of B2B companies existing customers are not fully aware of their vendors’ additional offerings. That means 60% of your clients are not likely aware of your full scope of services, which represents a significant opportunity to grow your business revenue by increasing your existing account lifetime values. When it comes to refilling that pipeline with new opportunities, ongoing and consistent market, and competitive analysis are critical to your ability to differentiate your brand with targeted and unique messaging and offerings that your market really needs. Market and Competitive Analysis Benefits The benefits are tangible and wide-ranging. According to a study by B2B House: It’s pretty simple. You cannot compete in a market when you’re not aware of what the market wants, what makes them engage and act, and what might turn them off. You also can’t compete if you don’t know what other brands like yours are saying, their value propositions, or what channels they use to engage prospects. Digital marketing tools afford us a ton of real-time data for our marketing efforts. Launching a campaign or strategy without doing your homework on the market and competing brands is akin to shotgunning a barn with your marketing plan when the data we have at our fingertips in the digital space allows us to be much more intentional and effectively use a scalpel for carve out our piece of the market-share pie. Rebuild Your Marketing Strategy Process to Make Room for More It’s not enough to do competitive and market analysis to build a better mousetrap at the outset of your strategy. It has to be an ongoing part of your strategic process. Our recommendation is to pull quarterly reporting on your market and competition to stay on top of shifts and allow your marketing team to be proactive instead of reactive to changes in the market that threaten your pipeline. No business is protected from the threat of market change, so being intentional about tracking your competition and market activity gives you the advantage of visibility into potential trends and shifts to protect your pipeline opportunities and your future business growth. LEVEL UP NOW