Free goal setting worksheet included below!
Hello, 2024!
It’s the perfect time to start thinking about what you hope to achieve with your small beauty business in the new year. Maybe you have a financial benchmark you want to reach or a goal to post more social media content for your makeup brand. Whatever it is, we’re here to help!
In this article, we discuss how to set SMART business goals to increase your chances of success, provide areas where you can set business goals, and even include a free goal-setting worksheet at the end! With this ultimate guide to business goal setting, you’re one step closer to crushing your goals in the new year.
SMART goal setting
So, what exactly are “SMART” goals? This acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely goals and has been proven to lead to greater goal success!
For example, the initial goal of “I want to be more active on my beauty business’s Instagram and gain more followers this year” doesn’t have any specific points. In contrast, the SMART version of this goal could be “I want to reach at least 5,000 Instagram followers by the end of 2024 and will post once every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In order to reach this goal, I will monitor the growth and progress quarterly to assess my strategy”.
As you can see, this second goal is much more specific, less abstract, and it’s success can be easily measured (5,000 followers and 3 posts/week). This SMART goal also has a defined timeframe to be completed (by the end of 2024 and Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). In terms of achievability and "realisticness", these will be based on your own judgement to determine if your goals are within reach, reasonable, and if you have the necessary tools to accomplish them.
Consistent measurement of your progress towards these goals will also help you achieve them!
Beauty business goal ideas
Now that we have SMART goals covered, it’s time to go over some areas where you can set goals for your beauty business in 2024. In each category, we will provide examples of goals you can set at all stages of business development – from just starting to already selling and growing.
For those starting out
If you’re looking for a sign to start your own makeup line, this is it! To make the most of the new year, start creating SMART goals to launch the private label beauty business you’ve always dreamt about. Whether it’s brainstorming brand names and logos for your store or finding a private label beauty supplier and making your first sale, any progress towards your business this year is huge!
Based on our previous article about how to start a makeup line, we’ve created 3 examples of goals for beauty entrepreneurs that are just starting out:
1. Start your business socials
This is something you can do before you even have a product! Many cosmetics companies will start their social media accounts to build a brand voice and community before they even launch their store. This can help generate hype around your makeup line and give you your first set of potential customers. A specific goal in this area could look like this:
“In 2024, I will create Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok accounts for my beauty brand and post 1-3 times a week on each”.
2. Find a supplier
A major step towards creating a cosmetics brand is figuring out where you will source your products from. Will you make the products yourself? Will you resell wholesale products? Or are you wanting to start a private label makeup line with your own logo on the products? A specific goal in this area could look like this:
“I will contact 10 suppliers, compare costs and benefits, and finalize where I will source my products from by April 2024”.
Blanka Tip: Did you know that Blanka is a private-label cosmetics supplier? In just a few clicks you can have your own branded makeup line with no risk and no minimum order quantities.
3. Create your online store
You’re so close to starting selling! Make this final step in 2024 to start your online beauty business. Decide which ecommerce platform you want to use for your store. Some of our favorites include Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, and WooCommerce. An example goal for this could be:
“I will create my beauty store on Shopify, upload 5 products after taking product photos and writing beauty product descriptions, and launch my store for selling by June 2024”.
Blanka Tip: When you start your makeup line with Blanka, you are provided with high-quality product shots for your ecommerce site, complete with your logo on them!
Financial goals
Who doesn’t want to make more money this year? If your goal is to increase your earnings then look no further! By examining your finances from the previous year, you can find many areas where effective goal setting can help increase your revenue. Here are two effective examples to grow your business income:
1. Increase monthly sales
This type of goal fits perfectly with the SMART goal setting format and can easily be tracked in your goal setting worksheet (BONUS: read until the end to get yours!). By calculating the average number of sales or revenue per month from the previous year, this sets a baseline from which you can create a specific and realistic goal. For example, if your online store received an average of 30 orders per month last year made $4,000/month in revenue, realistic goals for the new year could be:
“I want to average at least 40 orders per month this year, and therefore grow my monthly revenue to over $5000”.
2. Minimize business expenses
This is a broad category where creating goals can help you keep more money in your pocket. Reflect on your last year of business: Where did most of your spending go? Are there more efficient/less costly ways you could be conducting business?
Once you’ve identified an area that can be improved, make a specific goal for how you will reduce spending. For example, reducing the cost of shipping is one way you can realize more of your gains:
“I will spend less on shipping by reducing package sizes by 20%, negotiating rates with courier companies, and buying shipping supplies in bulk” or “I will find a low-cost dropshipping service for my beauty business who will handle order fulfillment for me”.
Marketing goals
You might already use social media to market your products, but have you used other marketing strategies? In 2024, branch out and try new ways to promote your small beauty business. In a previous post, we’ve shared 6 creative ways to increase your brand awareness, but for now here are two simple ways you can get your products in front of more customers this year:
1. Collaborate with creators and other businesses
Collaborations are a great way to expose your products to potential customers. You can do this by gifting or doing a paid collaboration with an influencer or content creator who embodies your brand image and values, or by collaborating with another company to host contests and giveaways. To quantify this goal, frame it like this:
“In 2024, I want to collaborate with 1 beauty creator per month with at least 5000 followers who will deliver content about my brand to their audience on Instagram”
2. Run a paid ad campaign
Has your business been growing organically over the past year, but you’re ready to step things up? If so, running paid ads might be the next move for you in 2024. You can run ads on most of your favorite social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok or through Google Ads. This performance-oriented goal can be constructed as:
“I will research and pick an advertising channel, create relevant content, and launch my first paid advertising campaign with its own specific goals before June 2024”.
Other goals
Obviously starting your makeup line social channels, improving your finances, and trying new marketing ideas do not cover all areas where you can set business goals. To conclude, we’ve listed some other goals you can elaborate on for your own beauty business using the SMART goal technique:
- Add new products to your store to keep it fresh
- Hire an employee to allow you to focus on other more important tasks
- Improve your work/life balance
- Outsource the tasks you struggle with most
- Start a blog to grow your customer acquisition through content marketing
Conclusion
Sometimes, it’s hard to stick to new year’s resolutions. However, by using the SMART goal setting format and recording your business goals in one place, you can better prepare yourself to successfully reach them!
In 2024, strive to launch, expand, or improve your private label beauty business and crush it in the new year. To record your goals and keep track of your progress we have created this FREE goal setting worksheet to help you get started. Simply make a copy of this document to edit and input your own business goals!
