If there is a way to gauge the success of your digital marketing campaigns, it is by setting SMART goals right at the beginning.?
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These goals ensure that you stay on track with your marketing efforts. Every goal is measurable, thus helping you know if your campaign is successful and if your efforts and investment are paying off.?
So, here are some best practices for setting SMART goals for your digital marketing campaigns.?
- Choosing specific over vague – Goals like "Be a global leader" are quite vague. How about breaking it down into SMART goals which talk about specific percentage increases in awareness, sales, subscriptions, collaborations etc.??
- Identifying meaningful KPIs to track – How do you know if you are generating enough awareness or conversions? Simply by defining the right KPIs. So, if your goal is increasing awareness, you could track impressions or the number of followers on social media.?
- Aligning campaign goals with marketing goals – When you align your campaign goal with your overall marketing goal, the impact is better and brand messaging looks more consistent. If the overall marketing goal is to increase website visitors, then LinkedIn campaigns, paid search campaigns, and email campaigns must all align with the main goal.?
- Aligning your SMART goal with the business goal – Once again, for better and larger impact, SMART goals should be in sync with the direction in which business is going.??
- Setting goals as per the target audience – Audience-centricity can’t be emphasized enough. As they are at the center of your every marketing effort, make it all about them. The SMART goal must reflect the audience. For example, a goal for a medical device company could be "a 20% increase in demo requests from surgeons for new surgical products over the next two quarters."?
- Setting reasonable and achievable goals – Reasonable goals can keep the team motivated, while unreasonable ones can put pressure on the existing resources. The targets should be based on solid trends and facts.??
- Using a SMART Goal Setting Template – To make it easy for marketers, templates are available for preparing the goals.?
To learn more about SMART goals and to download the SMART goal setting template, visit the article here.?
