So, y’all know we’re obsessed with data-driven marketing. 

An important part of this is learning how to define and measure marketing objectives. 

You need to know if what you are doing is actually working. Are your marketing tactics helping you achieve your overarching business goals? Because that’s the whole point of doing them. 😅

Your marketing strategy needs clear marketing objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) to be effective. 

Too many brands have a hit and hope mentality, where they spray lots of tactics out there, and hope that something works – without measuring or being strategic. 

To be successful you need to define and measure marketing objectives. 

What are your marketing objectives? 

First, we need to decide what your marketing objectives are, and then create specific actions to help you achieve them. ✅
These objectives need to be things that will help drive your business forward. 

Some example objectives might be:

• You want more of the right people on your website 

• You want to get more engagement on social media 

• You want to increase your brand awareness 

Once you know what you want to achieve, you can create some tactics and a strategy to help you achieve them.
The only problem is, those 👆 objectives are a bit vague at the moment. How would you measure success against them? 

That’s why the Kraken Marketing team like to set SMART goals. But what are SMART goals you ask!

Setting SMART goals 

SMART goals  are:

🦑 Specific

🦑 Measurable 

🦑 Achievable 

🦑 Relevant 

🦑 Time-bound

You need to be specific about what you want to achieve, why is this goal important?

It needs to be measurable to help you know when it will be accomplished. 

It also needs to be achievable. There is no point in setting goals or targets so high that they’re not achievable. Do you have the resources and tools available to help meet this goal?

It also needs to be relevant. Are you the right person / department to be trying to achieve this? Is now the right time to be trying to achieve this?

And finally, you need to create something that is time-bound. When do you need to have achieved this by? There’s a big difference between something happening next month and next year. Will this still be helpful then?

SMART goal examples 

So, we’re agreed that SMART goals are the way forward if you want to define and measure your marketing objectives. Awesome! 💪
But what might they look like? 

By 1st January 2024 we want to have had 2000 downloads of our free PDF 

Specific –  it’s very clear what the goal is.
Measurable – its clear  how many downloads you want to achieve.
Achievable – this looks like an achievable goal based on the budgets you have available to promote this free download.
Relevant – it helps fill the top of your marketing funnel.
Time-bound – it has a clear deadline that should be enough time to achieve this goal , with a concerted effort. 

By 1st June 2024 we want to have increased our Instagram followers by 500 to 5,000. 

Specific –  it’s very clear what the goal is.
Measurable –  you’ve stated clearly how many followers you want to gain.
Achievable – this looks like an achievable goal based on the current trajectory of your follower numbers and the amble ad budget you have available.
Relevant – the more followers you have, the more potential customers you’re talking to, and the wider your brand reach will be.
Time-bound – it has a clear deadline that gives you enough time to work on this. 

The possibilities are endless!

Other top tips for measuring marketing objectives

• Set a mixture of short term and long term goals
• Make sure you have a combination of revenue and brand-related goals
• Regularly check-in and assess your progress, feel free to change your goals if needed

Want some help setting or achieving your marketing objectives?

Get in touch. 🦑