How to Set Aviation Marketing SMART Goals

All successful businesses have one thing in common, they set goals, followed through, and achieved success. Goal setting should be in the forefront when thinking about growing in business aviation. Most people don't put enough thought into this process and instead just have an idea of where they want to go. Setting SMART goals will bring you one step closer to achieving success in aviation marketing for your business. While going through the goal setting process make sure each goal you set follows the five points below. You also have to write them down!

S: Specific:  

Make sure your goals are specific. The difference between a dream and a goal can often be the specifics.  Instead of “I want to gain more student pilots” try something like “I want to have 150 students enrolled in January”. 

M: Measurable:

Goals should be measurable so you can track your progress and know when you have reached it.  Use numbers so it is clear how far you are from your goal. Use a graph or chart to break down your goals and as you hit each milestone, mark it off.  Keeping a visual can help keep you on track and remind you of your goals daily.  If you are trying to build your enrolled students you can easily measure your results by looking at your enrollment numbers.

A: Attainable:

Any goal you set should be attainable and realistic. Setting goals that are too far out of your reach will only be discouraging and let you down. Before setting goals look at your past numbers and think about how many students your school can handle comfortably. Research typical growth in your industry and use this to guide your goals.

R: Relevant:

Keep your goals relevant to current conditions in business aviation. Don’t set a goal to double your revenue if a new aviation school is coming to your state. Stay current with trends and build your goals based on what else is going on in the market. (Subscribe to magazines and journals, and keep up with current events).

T: Time-based:

Always set deadlines for your goals and make sure they are time-based.  If you don’t set deadlines for yourself you will not be motivated to complete them.  If your goal is long term set shorter term smaller goals with deadlines, this can help you avoid procrastination or getting to the end of the year and realizing you haven't grown in the way you wanted. Creating a time frame helps create a sense of urgency.

Learn: How to Create a Digital Marketing Plan for My Website

Example:

A SMART goal for your aviation school would end up looking like this:  I want to have 150 students enrolled in our school by January 1, 2015.  This goal is specific and time-based.  Only you can decide if it is relevant and attainable and depending on when the goal is set you can make it measurable by breaking this number down into months for example: by October 1 2014, I need to have 85 students enrolled in our school.

Tip:  Reverse Engineer Big Goals to Make Them More Realistic:

If you have set a big goal for growing your aviation school reverse engineer it to create a plan of action.  For example if your goal is to increase student enrollment by 50% think backwards about everything that will have happened and every step you would have taken once you reach this number.  Follow the steps above, make goal setting a priority (every week, month, quarter, or year) and you will achieve success in aviation marketing in no time!