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When U.S. professional football teams the New York Giants and the New England Patriots faced off in this year’s Super Bowl competition, each team had a very clear goal in mind: to score more points than their opponent and win the game.

There were likely additional goals. Each player may have wanted to increase his earning potential; the game’s organizers may have wanted to generate revenue and exposure; advertisers may have wanted to increase their brand acceptance.

What does the Super Bowl have to do with planning a communication program? The size of the audience and the glitz of the half-time show may differ, but the success of both greatly depends on clear and effective goal-setting.

To put it another way, no important endeavor involving the application of resources, time and energy should be undertaken without a clear goal in mind. It is the destination—the clear result—that must be kept in mind as you travel down the road.

As obvious as this may sound, many communicators still either set weak goals for their communication plans or projects or don’t set any goals at all. They sometimes learn the hard way that, regardless of how much money and resources are committed to a project, without a clear goal in mind, success is uncertain.

Goal-setting isn’t rocket science, but it can be challenging even for experienced communicators. An effective goal should have four attributes: consequence, connection, clarity and correctness.

Consequence
Above all, a communication goal should have a clear and identifiable result, or ideal end state. For example, a goal of “promoting great customer service” does not state what the result of promoting great customer service would be (greater customer loyalty, increased sales, etc.). That result is the true goal, not the tactic required to achieve it.

Connection
Second, your goal should have a direct connection with the purpose and success of your organization or business. Too often communications are sent out because “that’s what we’ve always done,” or “the CEO thought it would be a good idea,” and, upon minimal scrutiny, they are found to have no business impact at all.

Clarity
A goal should be clear and simply stated. If it takes more than two sentences to state a goal, something is wrong with it—it’s either aiming too high or combining multiple, smaller goals.

Correctness
It is also important to set the right goal for the appropriate scope and focus—not too narrow and not too broad.

It’s not unusual for a communicator to state a tactic—such as building a website or conducting a social media campaign—as a goal. Sure, these indicate a desired end state (completion of the project), but simply executing a tactic in itself does nothing for the organization unless an audience responds to the tactic by taking action. That action is the goal—either direct action, such as purchasing a product or service, or an indirect action, such as changing an opinion or an attitude that might lead to later actions.

Similarly, another common mistake is setting a goal that is actually an objective, such as increasing traffic to an organization’s website. Such a goal sounds good on the surface—it calls for a reaction from the audience—but again, what does achieving it actually do for the organization? That end result, as always, is the true goal.

At the other end of the spectrum, it is possible for a goal to be too broad and all-encompassing. A goal of “setting a long-term progressive course for local government in our city” for a direct mail marketing piece might be a stretch. (A more reasonable goal might be "to raise awareness and acceptance within the community of new solutions to civic problems.”)

Fine-tuning your goals
An effective communication goal must denote some sort of quantifiable change that’s important to the health and success of the organization. Often, goals will be readily apparent and need no extensive rumination, such as getting legislation passed, resolving a consumer confidence issue, or increasing sagging market share.

If the goal isn’t apparent, good questions to ask are: What am I really seeking to achieve with my communication? How, ultimately, can it help my organization succeed?

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you work for an alternative energy firm that has just developed an innovative, cost-effective wind turbine that generates more energy than competing devices, with a smaller environmental footprint. You’ve proposed holding a publicity event, aimed at the media and potential customers, to demonstrate the new turbine’s qualities.

So, what would be the right goal for this project? Let’s consider some possibilities:

Goal	Quality
Attract trade media and target customers to the event to see the new turbine in action.	Poor This is a supporting objective to a broader goal, and should be quantified with specific numbers.
Successfully introduce the new wind turbine model to the marketplace.	Average This speaks to a business connection, but it’s still too vague. What does “successfully” mean?
Ensure that the new wind turbine gains primary market share.	Good This short goal states a clear business impact.
Position the company as an industry leader in clean, efficient alternative energy sources.	Best This also states a clear and concise goal, but with a broader vision. It must be supported with specific, measurable objectives.

Of course, this example makes the mistake of putting the cart before the horse. Always set your goal before determining your communication solution. Once you have a clear and concise goal, it should direct every stage of your planning—and increase your chances of success.