You’ve probably given some thought to the types of results you’d like to see from your
marketing campaigns. Outranking competitors and garnering likes while maximizing return
on investment (ROI) offers sweet satisfaction. But what are the steps to get to that point and
translate your vision into reality? It starts with a core component of every successful marketing
strategy: Setting marketing goals and objectives. Let’s take a closer look at what marketing goals
and objectives are, the common metrics you may use, and how being S.M.A.R.T. makes an
impact on your business. I also have some tips to help you set marketing goals for your strategy.
What are marketing goals and objectives? Marketing goals and objectives act as guidelines
or targets for your marketing activities. There is a difference between the two as
goals are more broad and address what you want to achieve, while objectives address the details of
the how, and in some cases, the why of your what. Goals and objectives help you effectively plan,
structure and execute your marketing campaigns. Common digital marketing metrics
Let’s take a look at common digital marketing metrics and marketing goal
examples in order to understand where they’ll fit into your goal and objective setting.
Digital marketing metrics are the data you receive to analyze your campaign’s performance and could
vary based on the nature of the campaign and goals you have in mind. It’s also important to remember
that metrics could either be classified as vanity or valuable. I’ll explain more.
Vanity vs. valuable metrics Vanity metrics are the results
that look good on surface level but don’t make or break your strategy.
Valuable metrics are the results that provide you with a deeper understanding
of your campaign’s strengths or weaknesses in order for you to make data-driven decisions
and optimize based on your findings.
Not gonna lie, vanity metrics can sometimes be misleading. However,
when you look at them closely and compare them to quality metrics,
you’d be surprised how they complete the puzzle of campaign performance measurement.
Digital marketing metrics will tell you a story, and understanding which metrics are most valuable
or relevant to your performance will help you achieve your marketing goals and objectives.
When it comes to vanity vs. valuable metrics, always remember that context is key.
So what could we categorize as a marketing goal? Typically, businesses look at the following
marketing goal examples as the broad or ultimate outcome for their digital marketing efforts:
Increase brand awareness Increase lead volume/quality
Shorten the sales funnel Minimize the percentage of lost sales
Increase profitability Increase brand authority
This is a perfect time to follow the S.M.A.R.T Goal guideline.
How to create S.M.A.R.T. goals S.M.A.R.T is an acronym for the
rules of your marketing objectives. Specific, measurable, achievable,
relevant and time-bound are the S.M.A.R.T. marketing goals you can refer to when assessing
whether your goals are descriptive or not. For example, if one of your goals is to increase
lead generation, you would establish the specific details of how many leads you’d like to obtain,
establish benchmarks by which you can measure the performance of lead growth,
make sure the actionable items to achieve growth are within the realistic expectations
of your team, confirm the goal is relevant to the direction of your business objectives
and determine a timeline from start to finish to assess the performance and impact of your efforts.
Now that we’ve covered an overview of S.M.A.R.T. marketing goals,
let’s break them down into their categories.
Specific: The more details, the better. Specifying percentage increases, numbers,
channels and a time-frame by which to achieve the goal will provide you with clear direction.
Measureable: What benchmarks or KPIs can be utilized to measure your goal progress?
Are there programs available to integrate with your current marketing channels
to measure the data of your goals? Achievable: Goals are stepping stones that
are manageable and actionable. On one hand, you want to ensure your goals are realistic
and within reach without risking burnout or demotivation from your team. On the other hand,
you don’t want to set the bar so low that it compromises the effectiveness of your efforts.
Relevant: Make sure your goals fall within the ultimate goals of your business.
If your business relies solely on leads, you would focus on goals to qualify and boost lead quality
and quantity. If your business is ecommerce only, you would specify goals to boost online
sales and reduce abandoned shopping carts. Time-bound: The time-bound category includes
creating a deadline for implementation and measurement. It’s important to be realistic about
the time you provide for your goals, otherwise you risk losing out on valuable assessment metrics
or demotivating your team. 3 tips for setting goals
Our hope is that you find value in our marketing goals and objectives guide.
Before we wrap up this segment, we’ll leave you with three summarized tips:
There will always be room for improvement when it comes to your marketing strategy,
especially when you set marketing goals for the first time. Keep working to improve the
level of detail of your goals and objectives. Your efforts will yield different metrics.
Decide which metrics are more applicable to your performance and measurement.
Make sure you set defined, clear and measurable goals. Following the S.M.A.R.T. Marketing goals
rule will help you understand the impact of your goals and objectives in your business.
Psssttt! If you’re looking for more marketing tips, sign up for Revenue
Weekly and get our latest insights and tricks. Our YouTube channel is also super resourceful
when it comes to marketing guides. Give this video a like and subscribe to our channel to binge-watch
our latest digital marketing insights. That’s all from me! Thanks for tuning in!