Once you've set a baseline, you need to set a course. This is where you need to decide what it is you want to accomplish from any marketing efforts that you want to put out. For instance it could be financial. So if you brought in one hundred thousand dollars last year, maybe you want to bring in two hundred thousand dollars this coming year. Or if you sold ten thousand widgets last year, maybe you want to sell fifteen thousand this year. There's all sorts of goals that you can set; they don't have to be financial. But it should be something that you can measure. A good goal is a SMART goal. It's Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Realistic. and Time Oriented. We won't worry about time oriented; we're assuming its this coming year. Or this quarter. But I want to have better sales is not a SMART goal because there's no definition for better. If you sold one more of widgets then you did last year would you be happy? Probably not. If you made a dollar more than you made last year, would you be happy? Probably not. You need to set specific measurable goals. I sold one hundred thousand last year. I want to sell hundred fifty thousand this year. Something like that. I often get phone calls from clients that say "I want to be in better marketing". What's better? "You know better than I did last year" Well what did you do last year? "I don't know". That's where setting a baseline comes in. You need to measure what you did in the past, so that you know which direction you're going to go in the future or find out which direction you're headed in the future. If you sold ten thousand widgets the first quarter last year, but only sold seven thousand this year. You know you're not doing as well as last year. It's kind of like me getting a phone call saying "I want to go to Boston". Well where are you now? "That doesn't matter, I want to go to Boston." Well if it doesn't matter where you are, how do you know where you're going? You need to head north east west? Somehow you need to know where you are now. And that will help you set a course for the future.