Why “Growth” is Too Vague (and How to Define the Right Goal)

When we ask clients what their goal for 2026 is, we hear the same answer time and time again – “growth”. We get it, all businesses aspire to grow, to get bigger and better, but “growth” is too broad, it’s not defined enough to work as a goal.

You see, growth means different things to different businesses, and even to different departments within the same business. To your Marketing Manager, it might mean more traffic. To your Sales Director, it means more revenue. To your Financial Director, it means better profit margins. Until you define what growth actually means for your business, it’s impossible to build an effective strategy.

Consider what type of growth you want to achieve over the next quarter. Do you want to make more money, more sales, shift more stock, or build a more sustainable business? When you choose one defined objective each quarter, you can align your whole business behind it, then every decision becomes easier because everyone is working towards the same goal.

In this article, we’ll explain why “growth” isn’t a useful goal, how to identify your primary business objective, and why focusing on one unified goal at a time can help set your business up for long-term success.

Defining what growth means for your business

If you want to drive meaningful results, you need to pick one clearly defined objective. This will give your team a shared focus and help ensure every business decision is made to support the same outcome.

In eCommerce, the four most common growth goals are:

1. Maximise revenue

This goal focuses on generating the highest possible revenue, even if it means accepting a lower profit margin in the short term. It is used to kickstart sales, build brand awareness, and quickly gain market share.

When to use it

This is a useful goal for startups, businesses launching new products, and brands entering a new market.

Key strategies

• Increase ad spend.
• Run sitewide sales or promotions.
• Offer discounts to new customers.

The risk

While this approach can help your business to establish a market presence faster, impressive sales figures don’t always equate to a healthy business. If acquisition costs are high and margins are low, you may struggle to make a profit. That’s why it makes a good short-term goal, but may not be healthy long-term.

2. Maximise sales volume

This goal sounds very similar to the last one, right? It’s true – they both focus on selling more products, but with one key difference. The last goal focused on increasing revenue, whereas this one aims to sell a greater number of products; it’s all about moving more stock.

When to use it

This is a good goal to set if the stock sitting in your warehouse has become problematic and holding onto it will cost more than selling it at a reduced price. You might set this goal if you need to:

• Sell end-of-season stock.
• Move perishable goods.
• Release cash tied up in stock.
• Make room for new stock.

Key strategies

• Offer bundle deals.
• Run sitewide sales or promotions.
• Offer a multi-buy discount.

The risk

In the long term, this goal can damage your brand’s perceived value. You may accidentally train your customers not to buy at full price because they know if they wait a few weeks, it’ll probably be half price.

3. Maximise profit

This goal aims to squeeze as much profit as possible out of what you already have. It means shifting the focus away from chasing more sales and instead looking for ways to improve efficiency, increase margins, and generate more profit from your existing operations.

When to use it

This is a popular goal among more established businesses that want to improve their cash flow or strengthen their financial position. You might use it if:

• You’re preparing to sell your business.
• You need cash to fund future growth.
• Rising costs are putting pressure on your margins.

Key strategies

• Increase prices.
• Negotiate better supplier costs.
• Improve conversion rates.
• Reduce expenses.
• Upsell/cross-sell.

The risk

When you cut brand-building campaigns and advertising, profits go up in the short term, but may go down in the long term. Prioritising profit for too long can make it harder to attract new customers and slow down business growth.

4. Optimise for sustainable growth

The first three goals we’ve covered can be effective in the short term, but they often improve one area of the business at the expense of another. In contrast, this goal focuses on striking a balance between increasing sales and maintaining healthy profit margins. It helps businesses to invest more strategically to achieve sustainable, long-term growth.

When to use it

This is the perfect goal for established brands that want to achieve long-term growth rather than quick wins.

Key strategies

• Optimise your ad spend.
• Improve conversion rates.
• Improve customer lifetime value.
• Invest in customer retention.
• Stop investing in unprofitable customers.

The risk

The biggest risk with this approach is that you could inadvertently become too conservative with how you spend your money. If you’re constantly looking for the perfect balance, you could find yourself underinvesting in new opportunities or missing out on chances to innovate.

How defining your goal changes your strategy

Defining what growth means for your business at this moment in time provides your business with a clearer goal. When your objective is vague, it’s difficult for each department to know where to focus its time, budget, and resources, because there’s no clear measure of success.

Take Google Ads as an example. Running a Google Ads PPC campaign seems like the right thing to do if you want to grow your business, right? But the way you build and manage that campaign will look very different depending on whether your goal is to maximise revenue, increase sales volume, maximise profit, or achieve sustainable long-term growth.

To illustrate the point, let’s take a look at how your Google Ads strategy may change depending on which of the defined goals you choose from the previous section.

You will find that the same scenario plays out across every department in your business. When you define your growth goal, it’s easier for each department to build more tailored and effective strategies to support the same shared goal.

Every growth goal comes with trade-offs

The biggest mistake businesses make when chasing growth is trying to achieve everything all at once. By defining your goal, you accept that every growth goal involves trade-offs.

If your priority is to maximise revenue, chances are you’ll need to spend more on marketing and accept that your profit margins are going to be lower. If your focus is maximising profit, then you’ll need to be much more careful about where you spend your budget, even if it slows down overall growth. Likewise, if you want to move more stock, you’ll often need to discount your products, which can affect your brand’s perceived value.

The right growth goal for your business depends on where your business is today. Once you’ve determined what kind of growth will benefit your business at this moment in time, you can build strategies to help you reach your objective.

Define your goal, then build your strategy

The most beneficial growth goal for your business will naturally change over time, so you should review your objective regularly. Most businesses find it useful to review their growth goal each quarter.

Start by deciding what success looks like for your business over the next quarter and then build a strategy to help meet your objective.

For example, your year could look something like this:

Q1: Maximise revenue to support the launch of a new product.
Q2: Maximise profit by reducing unnecessary costs and increasing the average order value.
Q3: Maximise sales volume to clear seasonal stock before autumn.
Q4: Prioritise optimising sustainable growth during the holiday period by investing in customer retention and long-term profitability.

Partner with Create8 to build a smarter, more effective growth strategy

At Create8, we help eCommerce businesses to define their goals and build successful growth strategies. Whether you need help building more efficient PPC campaigns, optimising your Shopify store for conversions, or achieving sustainable, long-term growth, we can help you build a strategy that delivers measurable results.

Contact us today by calling 0161 820 9686 or emailing hello@create8.co.uk. Growth starts with clarity. Let’s define your goals and build your strategy together.