Long-Term​ Goals - Unrealistic or absolutely necessary?

Should organisation’s set long term strategic objectives? Are long term objectives important or unrealistic?

Firstly, long-term objectives shape the overall direction of the organisation (Price, 2018). They are measureable targets that businesses can set and progress towards. To answer the questions, absolutely yes - setting objectives are vital for organisation’s, online or not, to achieve their overall vision and mission.

(Aspanational, 2018)

Many organisation’s set short and long term objectives. These are easily defined –

Short term objectives– Achieved in a shorter period, generally up to a year.

Long term objectives– Achieved over a long period of time, generally from 5 - 10 years. (Price, 2018)

Whilst the online market is rapidly evolving, consumers are not stopping using the internet. If anything, they are using the internet even more. So yes, it can be an unpredictable environment, however this should not stop companies setting long term goals.

One successful strategy for goal setting is using SMART goals. This means goals need to be:

Specific Measurable Actionable Relevant and Time Related (Chaffey et al, 2016)

By using this strategy, the company has something to progress toward and will ensure goals are realistic and achievable, even in such a changing marketplace. Goals for an online platform may be achieved much sooner than anticipated, because of the rapid rate of change and overnight success stories. However, it’s better to have long term goals, and achieve them sooner, rather than not have them at all.

(Ohio Health Blog, 2018)

In fact, if an online website does not set long term goals, it could have more negative consequences on the business than if they did. This is because in such a changing marketplace, with so many other competitors and technologies, consumers want to be able to rely on their online business platforms to provide them with the most up-to-date and relevant products or services. If they do not have a long-term strategic vision for their company, they will not be considering the future and finding innovative products, software or technology to provide to their consumers.

Without long term strategic objectives, how will the company know where it going and what it wants to achieve in the future? They would be in a constant cycle, leaving them in the dust of their competing online counterparts.

(Coulombestrong, 2018)

References -

Aspanational. (2018) Aspanational-Balancing short and long term program objectives [online] Available at- https://aspanational.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/balancing-short-term-long-term-program-objectives/

Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2016). Digital marketing. 6th ed. Harlow (GB): Pearson.

Coulombestrong. (2018) Coulombestrong – Goal Setting [Online] Available at- https://coulombestrong.wordpress.com/blog-posts/goal-setting/

Ohio Health Blog. (2018) Ohio Health Blog – Set smart goals succeed [online] Available at - https://blog.ohiohealth.com/set-smart-goals-succeed/

Price, N. (2018) Board Effect – Difference between short term and long term goal planning, [Online], Available at- https://www.boardeffect.com/blog/difference-short-term-long-term-goal-planning/