One way to correctly define your digital marketing objectives is with the widely recognized SMART methodology. A SMART goal, in terms of digital marketing, will help you achieve your business and overall business goals. SMART goals will tell you if your marketing efforts are worth it and if your campaigns are effective, and they will keep you focused and motivated. This makes this methodology so important.
Here is a better explanation of each letter:
S for Specific. A Smart goal must be clear and specific. How to define it, then? A specific objective should clearly answer the following questions: -Where? -When? -How? -Why?
M for Measurable
To know if you are achieving your goals, you must be able to measure them and quantify their benefits. For this you must have indicators or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that help you measure their efficiency.
A for Attainable An objective is a challenge. Therefore, it should not only be clear and detailed. Obviously, it must be reasonable, so try to make sure that the goal is within your reach and that it can be met.
R for Relevant
First of all, you must know your limits. Some goals will probably require an investment and you have to be sure you can do it. In addition, they must generate a profit for your business or clients, otherwise you will be losing effort and money.
T for Time Based
How long do you think you need to reach the goal? It is essential that you create a small calendar where you record the time to achieve your goals.
You can also plan a weekly schedule to dedicate yourself to managing your marketing strategy, which will allow you to move forward little by little. Don't leave everything to the last minute.
How to define your marketing objectives?
Now that you know how to define your marketing objectives in an intelligent way, we will tell you what are the criteria that you must take into account to define them correctly.
Step 1 - Identify your business goals
This is the starting point to define your marketing objectives, you have to know, in principle, what your general business objectives are and then what you want to achieve in a year.
To define a revenue-based marketing goal, the first thing you need to do is analyze what your revenue was in the last fiscal year. Once you have this information, you can transform a broad goal into a more meaningful business goal.
Step 2 - Analyze your digital marketing strategy
You can use a tool like Google Analytics, HubSpot, Marketo, Shopify, or whatever you use to obtain helpful information to help you understand previous performance and discover critical data that will help you define your marketing objectives.
For example, you will be able to know the number of visitors who came to your website or how many inquiries you received through the website and the number of them that became customers.
Step 3 - Set your SMART goals
You already know what the results of your digital marketing strategy are, with this knowledge you can define smart objectives that are aligned with the commercial objectives of your company. What would your goals be?
Step 4 - Make strategic decisions
Once you've defined your marketing goals, you can start planning the marketing activities that will help you achieve them. It is important that you decide where you want to focus your efforts.
Step 5 - Review, analyze and optimize
Obviously, when you define your first marketing goals, they are most likely not perfect and they don't have to be. But they will be a benchmark, a motivation, a reminder that your digital marketing efforts can and should have an impact that you can measure to the end.
So inevitably, you will have to review your goals (a quarterly review and involve the sales team is recommended) to make sure they are being achieved.
As you can see, to create marketing objectives, intelligently, it is important to follow a proper process. The best thing is that you do it step by step, and with a blank sheet. Define your goals in detail, enter as much information as you can, and then categorize. If you use the SMART methodology, you will be able to define everything correctly.
Regardless of the size of your company, you must define clear, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-limited marketing objectives. These goals will obviously change as your business grows, but they should progress naturally and logically. Setting smart marketing goals will help you get the most out of your marketing efforts, and your business productivity will improve exponentially. Use appropriate indicators and metrics that allow you to measure the effectiveness of your marketing objectives. If you would like to set up a meeting with the Century Digital Marketing team let us know! We are here to help businesses from the very first steps of their marketing strategy.