What are Marketing Objectives and How Should You Set Them to Get Best Results?

Marketing objectives refer to meeting quantifiable outcomes through marketing efforts. They differ from marketing goals, which are not exactly measurable but relatively broader in scope. Find out more about marketing objectives right now!

Growing your organic traffic by 20% in the next six months is an achievable marketing objective. Becoming an industry leader in your niche is a marketing goal. Both objectives and goals in marketing are equally important for the growth of a business. 

Let’s explore the concept of marketing objectives in more detail, so that you are setting them and even achieving the best outcomes. 

1. What are marketing objectives?
2. Common features of marketing objectives
3. Do marketing objectives matter at all?
4. 3 examples of marketing objectives
5. How to set marketing objectives the right way

What are Marketing Objectives?                  

Marketing objectives are measurable and specific targets, defined by key performance indicators (KPIs). The purpose is to see which of the marketing efforts work so that they can be replaced or improved upon.  Such objectives are measured against a pre-determined period so that they are tracked, and further changes can be implemented in real-time.

Common Features of Marketing Objectives

When you are setting marketing objectives, the following are the must-have characteristics. 

• Realistic – Suppose you do not have the right number of personnel for the tasks, setting a target too high will hardly work in your favour. The target has to be realistic based on the number of people you have in your team and their capabilities.
• Time Driven – It is not just the capabilities of your team that needs to be considered. The time required for the tasks to achieve a specified target is crucial. Usually, objectives are set for three to six months or even a year. 
• Measurable – No matter what your marketing objectives are, they must be measurable. The objectives, once set realistically within a specific time, must deliver the results that you can measure and even monitor from time to time. 
• Specific –  You must set key performance indicators for the targets so that you can measure them accurately and take the right decisions forward. Usually, businesses use analytical tools such as Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, or Google Search Console for measuring KPIs.

Remember to check Google Analytics certifications if you do not have any yet!

Do Marketing Objectives Matter At All?

Marketing objectives create transparency in an organisation and can be adjusted for better outcomes. Read how. 

Keep the Marketing Team Aligned

Not having marketing objectives can introduce miscommunication among the team about targets. The end goal of business growth through marketing efforts will not be met as desired. 

Help Adjust Your Marketing Efforts Continuously

Marketing objectives ensure that if one of the proposed strategies or targets is not achieved within so-and-so time, they can be worked upon by choosing alternatives. 

Objectives such as KPIs are meant to be tracked regularly and anything that is not working out can be revisited, replaced or removed. By setting them up realistically, it ensures there will be guaranteed growth with continuous monitoring and revisions. 

3 Examples of Marketing Objectives

Here are some examples. 

Improving Organic Traffic

If you have launched your startup and your website, it is time to generate new leads. Now, you would have to improve how your site ranks on search engines such as Google, Bing, etc. 

For that, you will need to improve your website traffic so that more online users visit and turn into customers. But gaining traffic is not going to happen overnight. You have to know what type of content works for your target audience and what type of keywords they use. Along with that, you would need a content team, follow SEO guidelines, etc.

Marketing objective for increasing organic traffic example – 

“Improving organic traffic by 20% in the next two quarters in 2023 through guest blogging, link building, posting blogs on social media, etc.” 

Use tools such as Google Analytics to track the nature of monthly visitors. 

Growing Brand Reach

Faster brand reach is possible when you deploy more than one type of digital marketing channel. You will need social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, etc., together. 

Marketing objective for growing brand reach example –

“Utilise relevant social media channels, create written, audio and visual content to share on social media, paid ads, influencer marketing, etc., to gain traction online by 50% at the end of 2023.”

Retaining Existing Customers

Retaining customers means they will be purchasing more of your products or services in the future. There are many strategies for customer retention. 

Marketing objective for retaining existing customers example – 

“Start to use email marketing tools for personalised communication to various customer segments, obtain customer feedback, encourage user-generated content on social media by next quarter of 2023.”

How to Set Marketing Objectives the Right Way

This is how you can set marketing objectives step-by-step.

Draft the Marketing Objective

Here, you have to set a realistic marketing objective that is measurable. It is ideal for focusing on one that has a timeline, too. 

Ideally, you should incorporate the SMART goals that more or less cover the standard features of the marketing objectives mentioned above. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. 

Set Benchmarks Before Achieving the Marketing Objective

Setting benchmarks here refer to ensuring that the efforts are progressing positively. If you are to achieve 10x customers by the end of 2023, for instance, you need to ensure that in 6 months, you have achieved 5x. 

Create a Marketing Strategy

Once you have set the benchmarks, it is time to move on to the next phase of creating a strategy that defines how you will achieve them. 

If, for example, your objective is to grow website visitors, your marketing strategy will need to cover the basics, including 

• Outlining a calendar for your content marketing strategy with enough blog ideas, thorough keyword and audience research, key trends research, etc.
• Publishing 10 to 15 blogs a week, depending on your team’s size
• Leveraging paid ads on relevant social media platforms where your target audience hangs out
• Reaching out to guest bloggers who can increase your blog count month-on-month

Discuss Your Strategy With Seniors

This stage is to ensure that your strategy aligns with the overall goals of the organisation. If there are bottlenecks, you can revise your strategy again.

Monitor Results

Using software such as Google Analytics will help you explore how your visitors reach your website, how much time they spend on your page, whether monthly clicks are increasing or on a plateau, etc. 

Parting Thoughts

Hope you can now set marketing objectives and achieve them. You can even tweak them to meet outcomes when you are monitoring. 

Take up marketing courses or go for digital marketing certifications offered by the top MOOC providers to upgrade your skills in the domain.