Goals are the blood of any marketer. As a result, the best marketing books for setting goals are all about establishing forward momentum and holding you accountable to your objectives.
A marketer without goals is like a ship without a navigator — you might get somewhere eventually, but you have no idea where it’ll be or when you’ll get there.
But when you set goals — when your ship has a navigator — you know exactly where you’re going and how close you’re going to be.
Still, setting goals is easier said than done. You also have dozens of options when it comes to different goal-setting styles you can choose, like SMART, OKRs, and more.
So if you want to start setting good goals as a marketer, where can you start? What are the best books a marketer can find on setting goals?
On this page, you’ll find the four books about setting goals that can help you take your marketing expertise to the next level!
Book Summary 1. Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible | Brian Tracy
Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible
Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible is a lengthy title for a thorough book on making things happen in your life.
Author Brian Tracy takes a large, overhead, and generalist viewpoint of educating you on how to set goals in your life for any purpose. But the lessons he teaches are exceptionally valuable to marketers.
Tracy developed his own system for setting goals that he outlines throughout the book. It contains a list of 21 different steps or tasks, all of which revolve around one simple idea.
Making something happen.
The three areas on which he really focuses are health, family, and money.
The reason Tracy focuses on these concepts is that most individuals have set goals around these ideas at some point in their lives.
But how many people actually meet those goals?
Tracy argues the number is smaller than you may think — even if you’re a pessimist!
That’s what Tracy’s system is designed to prevent. With his outline, you learn a tried-and-true process that lets you set goals and follow through with them.
In a nutshell, you become one of the select few individuals who actually does what they say they want to do.
And the kicker?
It’s not that hard. It really, really isn’t.
If you want to take a goal-setting system into the workplace with you, Tracy’s is the one to use. His 21-step system will not only make you a better marketer — it’ll make you a better person!
Book Summary 2. Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals | Michael Hyatt
Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals
Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals is written by celebrated author Michael Hyatt.
Hyatt’s book is perfect for you if you’re the kind of person who’s sick of falling through on goals.
If you’ve set objectives for yourself and you’ve constantly let them go (for whatever reason), this is the book that’ll help you change.
Hyatt focuses on overarching concepts like life, love, relationships, and business. But the key takeaways from his books are the easy methods he recommends for holding yourself accountable for goals.
His most valuable recommendation is how to “quit-proof” a goal, essentially making it impossible for you to back out of a commitment that you’ve set for yourself.
This works well with marketing, too. Marketing goals are often set around efficiency, productivity, or deadlines.
When you make one of those goals quit-proof, failure is no longer an option.
You, as a marketer, must move the company forward with your goal.
If you don’t, then you need a really good reason — not an excuse like “something came up.”
In this regard, Hyatt hits home by making it impossible for you to protect yourself with excuses.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people. But if you can handle it, Hyatt’s book will make you a marketer who can stand heads above others!
Book Summary 3. Principles: Life and Work | Ray Dalio
Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio is another generalist look at setting goals and making them work for you.
Dalio’s focus in this book lies more on decision-making than anything else. Those decisions form the crux of the goals you set, as you determine what you want out of life and work while figuring out how to pursue it.
Of all the authors on this page, Dalio is perhaps the most qualified to speak candidly on the topic of life, work, and goals.
He’s a best-selling author who founded the wildly successful Bridgewater Associates in the 1970s during his time in New York City.
Now, with decades of investment and managerial experience on his side, he has Principles act as the guidebook for anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps.
After all, when it comes to setting a goal, the first step is deciding what you want to do!
Book Summary 4. 20 Principles of Productivity: Focus, Motivation, Organization, Habit Building, Time Management, Apps, Psychology, Goal Setting, Procrastination & More | Alex Genadinik
20 Principles of Productivity by Alex Genadinik is a fully-formed manifesto on the concepts of getting things done.
Of the books on this list, Genadinik’s is the one that speaks most directly to business applications, especially in marketing.
Productivity, discipline, delegation, and efficiency just scratch the surface of Genadinik’s book, which is as useful for young marketing associates as it is for a chief marketing officer.
More impressively, Genadinik is one of the few authors who’s dedicated to keeping his published works up-to-date. This version of Principles is currently the second edition, though the third (and subsequent editions) could drop any time.
Genadinik’s book is a testament to the idea that you don’t have to be a “born” marketer or a “natural” leader.
You can learn the essentials and practice them every day, ensuring you meet your goals and advance your career at the same time!
Gents of Lancaster 