Setting business goals is an essential part of marketing success, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start—or how to make your goals realistic and measurable. That’s where AI can help.
In this post, we’ll show you how to use AI tools (like ChatGPT or our Media Shower AI marketing platform) to create actionable goals for your business.
Watch the video below for a short step-by-step guide, then read on for real-life examples of how to use AI for goal setting—to set, measure, and track your business objectives for the year ahead.
Key Steps
1. Set up the AI tool
Sign up for an AI tool that fits your business needs, such as ChatGPT, Jasper, or CoPilot. Make sure you’re familiar with its capabilities, and if necessary, train it with your company and customer information for tailored results.
If you’re using the Media Shower AI Platform, you can skip this step, as our platform is trained on your company and customers. Click here for a free trial.
2. Input key information
Provide essential details like current performance metrics and overall objectives. The more specific your input, the more personalized and actionable the AI’s suggestions will be.
3. Generate and refine goals
Ask the AI to suggest business goals for your company. Review the output and refine it by requesting measurable metrics or more specific targets that align with your vision.
4. Create a tracking system
Work with the AI to outline a framework for tracking your goals. Use tools like Google Sheets, Data Studio, or Tableau to create dashboards that visualize your progress.
If you’re not sure how to do this, just ask AI. It will walk you through it step by step.
5. Measure and iterate
Track your progress regularly using your dashboard. Generate reports with the AI and adjust your goals or strategies based on performance data to stay on track.
How to Use AI to Set Business Goals
For this guide, we’ll use a fictional company, GreenLeaf Organics, to demonstrate how to approach using AI to set business objectives.
1. Start with a simple prompt
To get started, GreenLeaf Organics asks their AI tool to help them brainstorm goals:
Sample Prompt: “We are GreenLeaf Organics, an e-commerce company selling organic skincare products. Help us set business goals for the upcoming year.”
Sample Response:
Based on your industry and focus, here are some potential business goals for this year:
- Increase website traffic by 30%.
- Boost monthly sales revenue by 25%.
- Grow email subscriber list by 15%.
- Improve average customer review rating from 4.2 to 4.5 stars.
- Expand social media following by 20%.
These goals are tailored to GreenLeaf Organics’ business and reflect realistic targets based on their market.
PRO TIP: If you’re not sure how much information to give the AI, instruct it to ask you questions to get the data it needs.
Sample Prompt: “Please ask me questions, one at a time, until you have all the information you need to produce realistic goals for my company.”
2. Request measurable metrics
Once they have a list of goals, GreenLeaf Organics asks the AI for specific metrics to track progress:
Sample Prompt: “Give us measurable metrics for each of these goals so we can track progress.”
AI Response:
Here are measurable metrics for each goal:
- Website traffic: Track monthly website visits (e.g., from 20,000 to 26,000 by December).
- Sales revenue: Track monthly revenue growth in dollars (e.g., $40,000 to $50,000).
- Email subscribers: Track total subscriber count (e.g., from 10,000 to 11,500).
- Customer reviews: Monitor average review rating on platforms like Google, Amazon, or your website.
- Social media following: Track follower counts across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
With these metrics, GreenLeaf Organics now has clear, trackable benchmarks for their goals.
3. Create a tracking system
To stay on top of their goals, GreenLeaf Organics asks the AI to help them build an AI goal-tracking dashboard:
Sample Prompt: “Help us create a dashboard to track these metrics.”
Sample Response:
Here’s a framework for your dashboard:
- Use a spreadsheet tool like Google Sheets or Excel, or a visualization tool like Google Data Studio.
- Create columns for each goal and its corresponding metrics (e.g., ‘Website Traffic,’ ‘Sales Revenue,’ etc.).
- Add rows for monthly data (e.g., January to December).
- Include visualizations like line graphs or bar charts to show progress over time.
- Set up alerts or reminders to update the dashboard monthly.
GreenLeaf Organics decides to use Google Data Studio to build their dashboard, integrating Google Analytics and Shopify data for real-time updates.
4. Measure, report, and iterate
The final step in using AI to set business goals is to monitor progress and adjust as needed. GreenLeaf Organics asks the AI to help them stay on track:
Sample Prompt: “Help us generate a monthly progress report based on these metrics.”
Sample Response:
Here’s a simple template for your monthly report:
- Website Traffic: January visits: 21,000 (+5% growth from December).
- Sales Revenue: January revenue: $42,000 (+5% growth from December).
- Email Subscribers: January total: 10,200 (+200 new subscribers).
- Customer Reviews: January average rating: 4.3 stars (+0.1 improvement).
- Social Media Following: January total: 25,000 followers (+1,000 new followers).
Recommendations: If any goal is falling behind, analyze the data for potential reasons (e.g., a drop in website visits) and adjust your strategies accordingly.
By regularly generating reports like this, GreenLeaf Organics can track their progress and make data-driven decisions throughout the year.
Pro Tips for AI-Driven Goal Setting
Here are some extra tips to make your AI goal-setting process a success:
- Start small. Begin with a few key goals (e.g., revenue, traffic) before adding more complex targets.
- Keep it real. If your goal is to increase social media following, provide baseline data like, “We currently have 20,000 Instagram followers” so AI can suggest realistic growth targets.
- Leverage automation. Use tools like Zapier to automatically update your dashboard with fresh data from sources like Google Analytics or your e-commerce platform.
- Iterate often. Revisit your goals quarterly to ensure they remain relevant. AI can help adjust targets based on updated performance data or market trends.
Marketer Takeaway
Using AI to set business goals makes the process faster, easier, and more effective. For companies like GreenLeaf Organics—or your own business—AI can help generate realistic goals, track progress, and make smarter decisions based on data.
With clear goals and actionable insights, this could be your best year yet!
Take the guesswork out of goal-setting with Media Shower, the AI marketing platform that turbocharges your productivity. Click here for a free trial.
