Do you know what’s just as scary as an under-performing campaign? Running a campaign with an unclear or undefined goal.

Both of those things may even be connected (according to our psychic friend, above).

Stop ghosting on your campaign goals and start showing up with S.M.A.R.T. Objectives.

Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Relevant. Time-bound.

Digital marketing campaigns require thorough planning in order to set proper expectations and earn positive outcomes. Your keen efforts in the planning stages will provide your business with a calculated strategy for managing the resources needed to execute campaigns.

To make sure your goals are clear and attainable, each one should be:

1. Specific

Setting clear and specific expectations is key for providing a focused approach in your execution and messaging. Try answering relevant questions for your campaign to define this criteria.

  • What do you want to accomplish?
  • Who is involved?
  • Where is it located?
  • When is the sale/event happening?
  • Why is this important?

2. Measurable

A measurable goal should address questions such as:

  • What are my benchmark metrics?
  • How much can we improve on the benchmark figures?
  • How many sales are needed to surpass our B.E.P. (break even point)?
  • How many new followers do we want on our social media pages?
  • How many online coupons do we want to be downloaded?

In the world of data-driven digital marketing, we are able to compile and interpret data to assess a campaign’s performance, but these numbers are trivial without benchmarks and goals. Benchmark metrics will help you ground expectations, but if you don’t have any benchmarks yet your first campaign should be about setting them.

 

3. Achievable

Campaign goals should be realistic and attainable within the lifetime of the campaign. When goals are unrealistic, people don’t see the point in working towards them. Always carefully consider the constraints and available resources such as budget, technical feasibility and service parameters, among other factors.

Setting an achievable goal will help you plan a clear path on your roadmap to success. Here are some examples of achievable goals:

  • Demonstrate expertise in your industry
  • Turn existing customers into brand ambassadors
  • Increase engagement on social media channels
  • Build or increase newsletter signups
  • Increase customer loyalty
  • Increase earned media buzz

4. Relevant

Your campaign may be original and creative but if it doesn’t resonate with your audience, results may be against your favour. This criteria ensures that your campaign goal aligns with your audience’s interests.

  • Is this the right time?
  • Does this match your prospect’s needs?
  • Does this matter to your target audience?
  • Does this support your brand values?

5. Time-bound

This one is simple. Every goal needs at least 2 target dates.

  • When does your campaign begin?
  • When does your campaign end?

Time-boxing your campaign enables you to contain your teams’s efforts and resources in manageable chunks of time. After a campaign ends, only then are you able to assess your performance and gain insights for future marketing efforts.

 

 

Here’s a sample S.M.A.R.T. Objective:

This social media prize giveaway contest (specific, achievable) aims to reward our loyal audience (relevant) while attracting new prospects to increase our instagram followers by 5% (measurable) over a 2-month period, beginning Sept 20th, 2017 and ending on Nov 20th, 2017 (time-bound).

Now it’s your turn. Apply a S.M.A.R.T Objective statement to a past or present campaign to see if you’ve got all of the criteria covered. If so, you must be a natural! You are slaying the game. If not, it’s never too late to fill in the gaps and pivot your strategy to refocus your campaign goal.

Fear the unknown goals no more.