We believe goals should be S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). We recommend setting your marketing goals based on the level of data where your brand can exert the most control: metrics. Metric-based goal setting can reflect multiple approaches:
- Actual counts: A goal based on your metric count performance. For example, if your brand had ‘x’ number of social followers in May, and wants to have ‘y’ number of social followers by August, OR your brand has a 30% engagement rate in May and wants to achieve a 40% engagement rate by August.
- Pacing goals: A goal based on how you want to compare to your competitors. For example, your brand is in 5th place in May for a specific metric and wants to move up to 3rd place by August.
- Directional goals: A goal based on growth over time. For example, the brand wants to achieve a positive trend in a specific metric for three quarters in a row, OR the brand’s score in a specific metric is in the “good” band in May, and the brand wants to achieve a score in the “great” band by August.
