How to set SMART objective for digital marketing
“The SMART objective helps you clarify where you want your digital presence to be, providing a measurable objective that can be monitored.”
Digital marketing requires careful and meticulous planning. It is always good to know what is expected and how the goals will be accomplished. Uncertainty and ambiguity about goals and contribution are a major source of friction and dissatisfaction in organizations. Especially when it comes to reviewing and discussing performance and compensation it is more effective and a better experience when you have clear goals and transparent contributions.
Using SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) objective is a good way to construct an effective marketing plan. Utilizing SMART objective is important because it helps you realize your goals and how to accomplish them. SMART objective is a valuable tool because it requires specificity. Using it allows you to know the clarity of your aim. It can give you a sense of progress and accomplishment. Plans developed from SMART objective can help you meet your business goals. SMART objective is a tool positively known by many of its users. It is your roadmap to successful marketing endeavours. On this article, we summarized the definition, function and example how to apply it on your work.
Specific
SMART objective requires you to be concise. A vague objective will confuse you in your planning. A specific goal is easier to understand and execute. Applying smart objective means pointing out a specific area of business that needs an improvement.
(e.g. I want to boost our blog's traffic by increasing our weekly publishing frequency from 5 to 8 times a week. Our two bloggers will increase their workload from writing 2 posts a week to 3 posts a week, and our editor will increase her workload from writing 1 post a week to 2 posts a week).
Measurable
A measurable goal is a goal that you can quantify or at least a goal that suggests an indicator of progress. Creating a measurable goal will help you measure your efforts and communicate success to your team. A measurable goal can later be interpreted as trends or graphs that can make the goal easier to understand. The trends or graphs you make can also emphasize the scope of your goal and the percentage of accomplishment that you and your team have done. You have to be able to put your plan in metrics in order to implement SMART objective plan.
(e.g. I want a 15% increase in conversion rate).
Achievable
Being realistic is a requirement of a successful plan. If you have 3 writers who can write maximum 3 posts in a week, setting 20 posts in a week as a goal will toll the writers with a heavy burden that they might not be able to accomplish. A heavy burden without a conviction that it may be finished will only create a problem within your team. Create your SMART objective based on the resources that you can manage and monitor in the realm of possibility.
(e.g. We need to increase our writer from 3 to 5 to increase our weekly posting to 15 posts).
Relevant
There are many problems that may arise in your marketing journey. Some may affect your business greatly while some may not. Tend to the problems that you need to fix most. Higher goal relevance will ensure a higher commitment from your team and your organization as a whole. Focus your effort towards the important objectives that affect your business greatly.
(e.g. We are in need of increased blog post. Therefore, we will recruit another writer to compensate with it).
Time-bound
SMART objective needs to have a specific deadline. Short-term and long-term goals need to be specified to give you and your team a sense of progress. Not having an executable timeline can disrupt your marketing efforts. Having a time-bound objective will facilitate a fast work pace. Specify when the result(s) can be achieved.
(e.g. At the end of this month, we will increase our conversion rate to 20%).
Remember To Be Dynamic
Setting an initial plan is important. However, new marketing problems can come at any time. SMART objective is not a one-way to success. It can always be rechecked and replanned to fit your needs. With multiple refinements of its objectives, you can be sure that your marketing efforts will be a successful one.
Applying SMART goals to our marketing plan allow us to create a more realistic task. SMART objective gives us confidence about its completion. Setting a SMART objective is a dynamic process that can be utilized to face new problems. Nevertheless, marketing objectives are important to be planned. Learn to define and execute them using SMART steps.
Are you still confused? Don’t worry, we have prepared a template for you to plan your SMART objective. Check it out here!
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References:
https://www.conductor.com/blog/2018/05/smart-marketing-goals-examples/
http://apppm.man.dtu.dk/index.php/SMART_goals_in_project_planning_and_performance_management