A goal is measurable when you could tell, at a stated date, whether it happened. That requires a number, a deadline, and a figure recorded now, and most business goals are missing at least two of the three.

What makes a goal usable

Three components, and dropping any one makes the goal unanswerable.

A number, since more and better cannot be assessed.

A date, since a goal with no deadline is never failed and never achieved.

A starting figure, since a target without a baseline cannot be compared to anything.

That third one is the most commonly missing. A business aiming for forty enquiries a month that never recorded what it was getting cannot tell whether forty is ambitious or already happening.

Goals that are not goals

Each of those describes an intention, and each can be converted into something usable by adding a number and a date.

The two kinds worth having

Outcome goals

What you actually want. Enquiries, jobs booked, revenue, average job value, or repeat rate.

These are the point, and they are lagging, meaning you find out months after the work that would have caused them.

Activity goals

What you will do. Pages published, reviews requested, messages sent, quotes followed up.

These are within your control and they are leading, meaning you know within weeks whether they are happening.

A plan needs both. Outcome goals alone give you nothing to act on until it is too late; activity goals alone let you be busy while nothing improves.

The useful pairing is one outcome goal with two or three activity goals that plausibly cause it, so that if the outcome does not move you can at least tell whether the activity happened.

Choosing the number

From your own figures rather than from ambition.

Look at what happened over the last twelve months, allowing for seasonality. A goal set fifty percent above a figure you have never approached is not motivating, it is decorative.

Ten to twenty percent above a genuine baseline is achievable and meaningful for most small businesses. Where the baseline is very low, larger proportional gains are realistic because the starting point is small.

The goal should also be tied to what you actually need, which is frequently a smaller number than the one that sounds impressive. A business needing four more jobs a month should aim at four more jobs a month.

The horizon

Different work reports back on different timescales, and matching the goal to that prevents false conclusions.

Conversion changes on an existing page can be assessed in weeks. Advertising changes in a month or two. Content and search work in six to twelve months. Reviews accumulate continuously and compound over years.

Setting a three-month goal for something that takes nine months to work produces a failure that was never possible to achieve, and frequently the abandonment of work that was proceeding correctly.

Writing them down

The step that converts intention into something checkable, and it takes ten minutes.

The goal, the number, the date, the baseline figure, and how it will be measured. That last item matters, since a goal measured differently at the end than at the start is not a comparison.

Also worth recording: what you are going to do about it, and what would make you change course.

A single page holding that is more useful than any planning document, because it can actually be revisited.

Reviewing them

Quarterly for outcomes, monthly for activity.

The activity review is the one that matters, because it is the one where something can still change. Discovering in month two that the pages are not being written is recoverable; discovering it in month eleven is not.

The honest question at each review is whether the activity happened, separately from whether the outcome moved. Those are different findings with different responses.

When to change a goal

Legitimately, and not because it looks like being missed.

Change it where the business changed, where the baseline turns out to have been wrong, or where the goal was measuring something that stopped mattering.

Do not change it because the number is uncomfortable in month eight, which is how organisations end up with a permanent record of achieved targets and no growth.

A missed goal that was honestly set is more useful than a met one that was adjusted, because it tells you something about what the activity actually produces. That only works if the starting figures were recorded properly in the first place, which is the discipline described in setting a baseline before you change anything.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a goal measurable?

A number, a date, and a starting figure recorded now. The baseline is the most commonly missing, and without it a target cannot be compared to anything.

What is wrong with grow the business?

No measurement is attached, so nobody can say at any point whether it happened. The same applies to improve our online presence and rank higher.

What is the difference between outcome and activity goals?

Outcome goals are what you want and are lagging, so you find out months later. Activity goals are what you will do, are within your control, and report back in weeks.

How should I choose the number?

From your own last twelve months allowing for seasonality. Ten to twenty percent above a genuine baseline is meaningful; fifty percent above a figure you have never approached is decorative.

How long should I give it?

Match the horizon to the work. Conversion changes report in weeks, advertising in a month or two, content and search in six to twelve months, reviews over years.

When should a goal be changed?

When the business changed, when the baseline was wrong, or when it stopped measuring something that matters. Not because the number looks uncomfortable in month eight.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Marketing plan with no way of telling whether it worked?

We set the number, the date, and the baseline, so twelve months from now the question has an answer.

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