At mcormc corporation, a digital marketing agency specializing in website optimization, social media marketing and email newsletter production in Redding, Calif., we serve a number of clients throughout the United States and around the world, ranging from hyperlocal small businesses to mulitnational non-profit organizations. At the beginning of every project for each of our clients, we use SMART digital marketing objectives that define our goals. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-phased. In short, A SMART objective clearly specifies your marketing actions.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at each of these objectives and provide a few examples.
Specific
With your marketing objective, you want to set specific metrics with real deadlines. Avoid setting a vague goal such as “get more website visitors.” Instead, go with something like, “get 1,000 page views from June 1-30.”
Measurable
You want to ensure you’re able to track your results. In the foregoing example, the SMART marketing objective is “get 1,000 page views from June 1-30.” This is a measurable goal, as page views can be tracked through analytics software such as Google Analytics. Another example of a measurable objective is “generate $100,000 in revenue in the second quarter.”
Achievable
Be realistic with your marketing goals. If you made $5,000 in sales last month, avoid setting a goal of $100,000 in sales this month. A more reasonable (and achievable goal) in this scenario would be to “generate $6,000 in sales through Facebook ads June 1-30.”
Relevant
In order to ensure you have a relevant marketing objective, ask yourself whether
the information can be applied to a specific problem. If the problem is that you want more leads, set your marketing objective to something to the effect of “generate 25 leads through Google Pay Per Click campaigns June 1-30.”
Time-Phased
The last element of your SMART marketing objective is setting a window of time to accomplish your goal. Avoid objectives without deadlines. Include in your objectives defined timeframes such as “June 1-30” and “first quarter.”
With these tips, your marketing objectives will be much more effective. Here are three more examples of SMART goals:
- “Acquire 100,000 new customers online for men’s watches in 2020.”
- “Increase Facebook Page Likes by 1,000 June 1-30.”
- “Book 100 free demos with business-to-business prospects this quarter.”
If you have any questions for us about how we can help your business define marketing goals, please contact us. If you would like to receive monthly tips on digital marketing for your business, please subscribe to our newsletter.
