We’re on our way to setting out a detailed and highly-effective marketing plan.

Last we left you, we were looking at target audience. More specifically, how to build buyer personas to support your understanding of your target audience.

It’s now time to look at what you want to achieve through your marketing for the year.

Let’s set some marketing goals.

Why do businesses need to set marketing goals?

If you don’t have marketing goals, it makes it very difficult to propel your business forward. Not only do marketing goals hold you accountable to ensure business growth, they drive your business practices and provide you with a solid indication of the degree of your marketing success. How do you know if you’re doing well if you don’t have anything to achieve? You don’t. You’re flying blind. Everyone’s marketing goals are different because your goals need to match your business plan and align with business objectives. Essentially, your marketing goals are the foundation of your marketing plan. Without them, you’re not working towards anything.

Setting your yearly goals

So, how do you do it? Grab a copy of your business plan and a pen and paper. If you haven’t created yourself a business plan, you need to do that first. If you have, start by looking at the business goals you’ve set for yourself. What are the objectives you’ve set for your business? Where do you want to be 12 months down the track? Your business goals should start to indicate what you need to do in terms of marketing to get there. Your marketing goals should support your business objectives.

It could be something as simple as increasing your database or improving your click-through-rate; or it could be a larger goal, like a specific revenue figure you want to reach. However, whatever you decide to commit to – because when you write it down, you have to commit to it – there are a few things to consider first.

Be specific

It’s important to set specific goals. They need to outline what, when, who and why:

• What, specifically, are you trying to achieve? Don’t be afraid to define your goal in detail.
• When do you want to have achieved it? Many businesses work quarter to quarter, but you may want to specify months. It’s not imperative that you set a specific date at this stage, but you should give it an approximate timeframe. We will look at your timeline in another section of the How to write a marketing plan blog series.
• Who will be responsible for reaching the target and who will be involved?
• Why do you want to achieve the results you’re looking for? The reason is almost as important as the goal itself. When you know why you’re working towards something, it makes the journey to get there all the more exciting.

Be realistic

You need to make sure your marketing goals are practical. Don’t play it too safe but reach for something that you can achieve. You can figure out if it’s achievable by looking at your year-on-year results. Assess what you’ve been able to achieve in the past and make an informed judgement about what you can accomplish.

Be smart

Smart goals have a measurement plan to support them. It’s all well and good to set goals but they’re not worth much if have no way to measure success. When you outline your goals, you need to make sure they are measurable and that you establish the metrics you will use to gauge progress. Metrics you may use could be data driven, like click-through-rates, engagement rates and conversion rates or they could be economical in nature, like revenue and ROI.

How many goals should you set?

You don’t need to go overboard. It’s usually better to do fewer things well, so setting a maximum of 5 goals should stand you in good stead. By the same token, you may prefer to just focus your efforts on one. It’s really up to you. Again, you want the number of goals you set to be achievable.

So, it’s over to you now. Goal setting should be fun, so revel in the exciting prospect of growth while you set yours. If you need some help with your digital marketing goals, the Netregistry team are always here to help. Get in touch to speak to an online solutions advisor today.