"Many companies have essentially the same overarching goals: increase sales, decrease operating costs, and reduce churn," writes Brett Johnson at MarketingProfs. "All of those goals result in growing a company's net revenue and profitability." But goals aren't the same as objectives, and without objectives you're unlikely to reach your goals. So how do you translate general goals into actionable objectives?

Here's an overview of his advice:

If your goal is boosting sales, for instance, you might define an objective as driving the preference of your best target customer while she is in the consideration stage. Then use what you've learned in your market research to complete this sentence structure:

• In order to (insert objective)
• We will (define a strategy)
• By (list creative tactics that solve the problem)

The result will be an action plan such as this: In order to drive preference with suburban sale chasers during the consideration phase, we will activate the online voice of existing customers by creating a game that requires multiple reviews on Facebook and Yelp and focuses on the reliability of the product.

Your team can now work toward an abstract goal with a concrete objective—and the practical framework might even inspire further brainstorming. "[G]ive them the opportunity to prove that their concepts make sense against the objectives or strategies," says Johnson.

The Po!nt: Don't mistake having a goal for having an objective. You'll never reach the top of the mountain if you haven't marked out a navigable path.

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