5 STEPS TO SET MARKETING GOALS THAT MAXIMIZE GROWTH
In this article, we give you our 5-step approach to creating a marketing goal that is proven to maximize the growth of your business. Here is a table of contents of the steps we will review:
With over 20 years of experience, our marketing consultants at Brand Ranch Media have led brands to scale into industry leaders using this 5-step approach. In light of the new year, we are sharing our secret with businesses looking to set new marketing goals.
You may find that marketing consultants start with the end goal in mind when setting your marketing goals. Let’s use the comparison of taking a road trip. Would you hop in the car to go somewhere you’ve never been, and just drive? Sure, that may work, but you could have gotten there faster by using GPS.
Your marketing goal is like inputting your destination in the GPS – it saves you time, and money and gets you to your destination the fastest. Without these marketing goals, your business gets stuck driving without any direction.
Let’s start the engine, to the destination of our 5-step approach to creating marketing goals that maximize your business growth.
01: Establish the Marketing Goal
There are various marketing goals you can create. As marketing consultants, we have found that the most effective marketing goals have some common components. The marketing goal should align directly with the business goals. It should also be specific, and typically measurable by a qualitative amount. Another component of a strong marketing goal is placing a timeframe around the goal.
Do you want to grow your email list? By how much? In how much time? Here are some examples of marketing goals:
Weak marketing goal Strong marketing goal
| I want to grow my email list | I want to grow my email list by 10% in 7 weeks by tracking new website forms, and new social media messages + |
Example:
| By how much? | By when? | How will I track progress? | Can this goal be achieved in the timeframe? | Does it relate to my business goal? |
| by 10% | In 7 weeks | New leads in CRM
New social media messages Website Forms calls |
Yes | Yes – Consideration |
02: Write Marketing Goals Down
I’m not kidding, write your marketing goal down somewhere you have to see it daily. Research shows that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if they are written down and referred to them often.
Share the marketing goal with other business members. Make your colleagues aware of the goal you’re collectively striving for. This not only gives everyone a central focus, but it also instills a sense of teamwork and comradery.
03: Match Audience to Marketing Goals
You have your marketing goal written down; the next step is to identify precisely who you want to see your message.
View this as a road trip: Our destination is our marketing goal, and the route options would be the various audiences you can target. The difference between taking the long or short route is in targeting the correct audience to hear your message.
Targeting the correct people to receive your message is an important piece in reaching your marketing goal with minimum waste of time.
To get you thinking about how your audience thinks, here are some questions to ask about your target audience:
|
Demographic
|
Psychographics
|
04: Maximize Marketing Goals with Mix Media
The next step in reaching marketing goals is to incorporate a mix of media channels to deliver the messages. After an in-depth analysis of your target audience, narrow down what media channels the audience is present in. This link explains more of Brand Ranch Media’s philosophy on media buying.
On the road trip to the destination of meeting your marketing goals, using mixed media can be compared to pit stops. You can choose to stop at the gas station miles away from the route you are on or choose to stop at the one on the way. Selecting to stop somewhere that is already on the way to your destination saves time, effort, and money.
This could be purchasing keywords for certain words your target audience is already searching for. Or, by buying media on a streaming TV service the target audience uses.
To get you thinking about what media the audience is on, ask:
- What part of Houston do they live in?
- What music do they listen to?
- What websites are they on?
- What social sites are they on?
- Do they watch cable TV?
- Do they stream TV?
05: Marketing Goals – Always Analyze
Arguably the most important piece of the puzzle to your marketing strategy is to continue to analyze the data, over and over. Reflect on your initial marketing goal and use key performance indicators (KPIs) as a measuring tool to ensure your marketing efforts are getting your results.
Along your road trip, there are a few checks you want to make along the way – such as gas, the air in the tires, oil level, etc. These checkpoints are the KPIs you established when setting your marketing goal.
Return to a section:
Alright folks, there it is. A 5-step approach to creating a marketing goal that is proven to maximize the growth of your business. If you have business goals that scale your business to unfamiliar territory, this is where marketing consultants in Houston can help.
At Brand Ranch Media, we have helped our clients scale their businesses to become industry leaders. We have the experience and foresight to help you reach your business goals. Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or use our contact form to start the conversation today!