When identifying specific marketing objectives to support your long-term goals, it is common practice to apply the widely used SMART mnemonic. You will know that SMART is used to assess the suitability of objectives set to drive different strategies or the improvement of the full range of business processes.
By definition, an effective SMART marketing objective is:
Specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound.
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When setting future digital marketing objectives, such as in a digital marketing plan, it’s useful to look hard at each measure and ask “is it essential?”. The SMART mnemonic helps as a test or filter which you can use to assess the quality of measures. The Smart Insights definition of SMART is:
Keep your strategic objectives SMART, link your objectives to strategies and KPIs, and make sure all of your team know exactly what the target is. Smart Insights have marketing tools and techniques to keep your team on track. Managers can utilize our advanced module forecast results and ROI for digital marketing activities, for Business Members, to set goals.
If you're still looking for digital marketing buy-in, don't forget to check out Dr. Dave Chaffey's 10 reasons why you need a digital marketing strategy.
We've got marketing tools and templates designed to help marketers, managers, and business owners track and achieve their goals. Book your free 1-2-1 strategy consultation to find how your business can benefit from Smart Insights Business Membership. Book your free 1-2-1 consultation to develop your new strategy with the RACE FrameworkNeed a winning marketing strategy?
Of course, different people interpret objectives differently. You can refer to the Wikipedia definition of SMART marketing objectives. Our handy graphic summarizes the five different SMART components we recommend for your marketing objectives.
We recommend integrating your marketing objectives across the RACE Framework. By structuring your objectives by customer lifecycle stage, you can track granular KPIs and customer-centric data to inform your marketing strategy throughout reach, act, convert and engage.
After all, your objectives are different for prospecting and retargeting, right? If you don't apply the RACE Framework to your objectives, you're missing a trick.
That's why 1,000s of savvy marketers are using our dedicated strategy and planning tools. All our marketing solutions are integrated across RACE, so you can confidently analyze and optimize your marketing funnel using data and insights to quickly improve your results from digital marketing. Book your free 1-2-1 consultation to develop your new strategy with the RACE FrameworkNeed a winning marketing strategy?
Plus, check out our top 18 digital marketing techniques to ensure you are covering the key areas of digital marketing that are relevant today.
Here are some typical examples of SMART objectives, including those to support objective setting in customer acquisition, conversion, and retention categories for digital marketing:
It’s worth guarding against the mistake I sometimes see with student assignments where, rather than listing objective examples like those above, the student will create separate objectives under a heading of each of SMART - this doesn’t work… Better is to group objectives logically, sometimes separating overall business and marketing objectives and digital marketing objectives.
You can add to your tests of choosing the right marketing objectives using these 10 measure design tests developed by performance management specialist Professor Andy Neely. For SMARTER metrics, ask these questions for your KPIs as you develop them.
These tests show there are additional filters on top of SMART that are useful to choose the best measure. I particularly like the "So-what test, another way of explaining relevance and Gaming - a common issue with target setting that isn’t considered by SMART!
Book your free 1-2-1 consultation to develop your new strategy with the RACE FrameworkNeed a winning marketing strategy?
Finally, some have developed the SMARTER objectives definition that shows the need to re-examine the relevance of SMART objectives over time.
This definition certainly shows the many alternative digital marketing objectives definitions - you may want to compare your current approach against these!
| Letter | Most Common | Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| S | Specific | Significant, Stretching, Simple, Sustainable |
| M | Measurable | Motivational, Manageable, Meaningful |
| A | Attainable | Appropriate, Achievable, Agreed, Assignable, Actionable, Adjustable, Ambitious. |
| R | Relevant | Results-Based, Results-Oriented, Resourced, Realistic, Reasonable. |
| T | Time-Bound | Timed, Time-Framed, Time-Specific, Timetabled, Time-limited, Trackable, Tangible. |
| E | Evaluate | Ethical, Enjoyable, Engaging, Evidenced |
| R | Reevaluate | Reviewed, Rewarded, Revisit, Recordable, Rewarding, Reaching. |
Now that we've defined what SMART objectives mean for you and your marketing strategy. What are your next steps, and how can you ensure you achieve your goals.
We've got a library of ready-to-go marketing strategy tools and templates, all integrated across the RACE Framework, to support you:
Whether you want to improve your Google Analytics skills, train your team, or apply new data-driven templates for growth forecasting, we recommend using the RACE Framework to springboard your marketing from strategy into action.
All our marketing solutions are integrated across RACE so you can confidently apply your findings to improve your marketing across one, some, or all of the stages of your customer lifecycle.
Through RACE you can identify new opportunities at every stage of your marketing cycle and prioritize the key journeys that drive the results you need. Download our free digital marketing plan template to learn how you could grow your business with the RACE Framework.
Free digital marketing plan template Our popular marketing planning template is structured across the Smart Insights RACE Framework. Join Smart Insights as a Free Member to download our digital marketing plan template today Access the Free digital marketing plan template
By Dave Chaffey
Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. Dave is editor of the 100+ templates, ebooks and courses in the digital marketing resource library created by our team of 25+ digital marketing experts. Our resources are used by our Premium members in more than 100 countries to Plan, Manage and Optimize their digital marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here. Dave is a keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question.
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