Hi, I'm Michelle Sternbauer, Account Director here at THAT Agency. Today, I want to talk to you about setting goals for marketing. But before we jump in to how to set goals, I want to talk setting goals in general. Goals are awesome - they help us to determine effectiveness, keep us focused, and push us to be better. However, goals are useless if they are not realistic. That is why it is important to set SMART goals for marketing. SMART goals are those that are:

Specific - set real numbers with real time frames.
Measureable - make sure you can track your goal.
Attainable - make sure your goal is challenging, yet possible.
Realistic - be honest on what you are capable of reaching.
Time-bound - give yourself a due date.

Now, let's talk about how to get started with setting goals for marketing. You will want to follow these steps for each goal you would like to set.

Step 1: Summarize Your Goal

This may be more difficult that you think. You will want to write a summary down of your goal.

Step 2: Categorize Your Goal

Typically, we find that most of the time, marketers will define that their most important goals fall into one of three categories:

1. Get more visitors to their site.
2. Get more visitors to convert into leads.
3. Get more leads to convert into customers.

Step 3: Set a Specific Numerical Goal

Now that you have defined and categorized your goal, it is time to set a numerical value to work towards.

Step 4: Set a Completion Date

Define a specific target date that you will strive to achieve your goal by. This will help you determine the level of effort needed to reach that goal.

Step 5: Commit the Time

I'm sure you went a little overboard setting your target date.  In this step, take a step back and make sure your time commitment is realistic.  Determine if you need to make adjustments to your schedule or planning in order to reach that goal.

Step 6: Outline Potential Obstacles

In this step, you will want to think of any potential barriers that will prevent you from reaching your goal.  By prepping for these obstacles ahead of time, you can navigate them more easily in the future.

Now that you've set your first goal, it's time to rinse and repeat!  If you have any questions, or if you need digital marketing for your company, drop us a line.  We'd love to chat!

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