With any business, whether in person or online, you need a set of marketing goals and objectives. Without setting clear and concise marketing goals, you have no direction for your business, as goals are the basis of your entire strategy. Marketing goals are part of every aspect of business and provide a sense of direction, motivation, clear focus, and clarify importance. In this blog, we’ll go over a few strategies to help you create your marketing goals.
SMART Goals
By setting marketing goals, you are providing your business with a target to aim for. It’s recommended to use strategic marketing planning through SMART goals. A SMART goal incorporates all of these criteria to help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving your marketing goal. This process works best because each detail of SMART goals covers every important aspect of a successful marketing goal.
Specific – A specific SMART goal has a significantly greater chance of being accomplished. To make a goal specific, the 5 W’s must be considered.
- Who is involved in this goal?
- What do we want to be accomplished?
- Where is the goal to be achieved?
- When do you want to achieve this?
- Why do we want to achieve this goal?
Measurable – A SMART goal must have specific criteria for the measuring process. If there are no criteria, you cannot determine your progress and if you’re on track to reach your goal.
- How many/much?
- How do I know if we are reaching the goal?
- What is the indicator of progress?
Achievable – A SMART goal must be achievable and attainable. This will help you figure out ways you can realize the goal and work towards it.
- Do you have the resources and capabilities to achieve the goal?
- If not, what are we missing?
- Have others done it successfully before?
Realistic – A SMART goal must be realistic. Can you realistically achieve this goal given the available resources and time?
- Is the goal realistic and within reach?
- Is the goal reachable, given the time and resources?
- Are you able to commit to achieving the goal?
Timely – A SMART goal must be time-bound in that it has a start and finish date. If the goal has no time constraint, there will be no sense of urgency.
- Does my goal have a deadline?
- By when do you want to achieve your goal?
SMART goals set you up for success by making goals that help push you further, give you a sense of direction, and help you organize and reach your goals.
Marketing Objectives
Marketing objectives are a pivotal part of a marketing strategy. Without defined marketing goals, a business will struggle with achieving its plan because it won’t be clear on what it wants to do. A straightforward plan is required to know what you hope to do and how you plan on doing it.
When it comes to setting objectives, there are various criteria you can use.
- Increase brand awareness – Quite possibly the top reason businesses use social media. It’s easy to understand why, with the average person spending over two hours a day on social media. This is one of the best places to grab customers’ attention.
- Drive traffic to your business – One step further from having a brand presence on social media is driving visitors to your website or blog, who might turn into customers.
- Generate new leads – Lead generation is typically used by companies with a long sales process. Hubspot says, “It’s a way of warming up potential customers to your business and getting them on the path to eventually buying.”
- Target new customers – You may choose this marketing goal if you already have a loyal client base but would like to expand out and reach new audiences, customers, and clients.
SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis process is a brainstorming technique. It’s designed to help you understand what differentiates you from the competition. In addition, it helps you understand internal and external factors that can make or break your marketing goal.
Strengths (internal factor)
- What advantages do you have to make the marketing goal a reality?
- What tools do you have available to help reach your marketing goal?
- What uniquely differentiates you from your competition?
Weaknesses (internal factor)
- What improvements could you make?
- What’s not going so well right now?
- What tech limitations may prevent you from achieving the marketing goal?
Opportunities (external factor)
- What tactics are your competition not utilizing?
- What new trends could you capitalize upon?
Threats (external factor)
- What market conditions may prevent you from achieving the marketing goal?
- What is your competition doing better than you?
Buyer Personas
Buyer personas are a major component of any effective marketing strategy. The truth is, you have to know who you’re marketing and selling to before you can make the sale. Today’s consumers only pay attention to marketing messages that are personalized and highly relevant to their unique experiences. Buyer personas are a way to address that consumer need while streamlining your marketing and sales process so, you’re only spending time on the leads most likely to convert.
With over 12 million online businesses across the globe, digital marketing is for everyone. Have a strategy in place to successfully market your business online. By following the steps outlined above, you can set clear marketing goals to grow your business.