When thinking about your digital marketing strategy, a good place to start is to think about your digital marketing objectives (after you have done some thorough research of course - but more on this another time). This is important for two main reasons:
You will know whether what you’re doing is successful
If performance is not where you need it to be, you can make the right changes at the right time to improve your marketing and campaigns before they finish
To make sure your digital marketing objectives empower the online marketing strategy for your small business, you need to make sure:
They align with your business objectives
They’re SMART
And you have based your goals on past performance or industry averages
The article below gives you some actionable advice using these points to set effective digital marketing strategy objectives, helping you to achieve your business goals.
Firstly, why bother with digital marketing objectives?
The beauty of digital marketing (rather than traditional, offline marketing) is that you are able to see results in real-time so you are able to make changes and improve performance during the course of your campaigns. If you wait until the end, you have no influence over the results and may have wasted an opportunity for much better performance. By having a set of digital marketing objectives in place, you know whether you are on track to hit these and if not, can dig deeper into specific marketing channels, messages, calls-to-action and more, to focus on the changes which will optimise your results for the better.
But drafting a set of digital marketing objectives is often disregarded for the more glamorous and creative side of online marketing such as producing a set of Facebook ad designs. Often, it’s because we don’t know where to start, what’s the right objectives to focus on or what’s a realistic goal to aim for. And that’s what I aim to demystify in this article.
“Where do I start with my digital marketing objectives?”
The answer is simple - start with your business objectives.
The first thing to ask yourself is: “What is the priority for my small business right now?” These priorities can typically be grouped into three main buckets and some examples are provided below.
Bucket 1: Increasing numbers
Increase number of new customers
Increase number of sales
Bucket 2: Increasing value
Increase average order value
Increase customer lifetime value
Increase upsells
Increase revenue
Bucket 3: Improving customer retention or reducing churn
Increase the number of times a customer shops with you
Increase how regularly each customer shops with you
Reduce subscription cancellations
Of course, you may have a couple of different objectives, but by honing in on these it allows you to be more focused on what you are trying to achieve with your business' marketing strategy and how you do that - through your marketing channels and promotional messages.
For example, if you are wanting to increase the number of new customers you attract it would be wise to focus on promoting your products with a lower price point to get them through the door in the first place. But, if you want to increase average order value, it would be better to focus on product bundles instead.
“How do I translate my business objectives into digital marketing objectives?”
Once you are clear on your business objectives, you need to think about the key online steps your customer would need to take to achieve that objective. If we take the first example of increasing new customers above, a very simplified journey would look something like this:
Potential customer sees your business and becomes aware of it
They visit your website to understand your offering
They take an action on your website to become a lead* (e.g. buy a product, make an online booking, call a number)
There may then be an offline step they need to take before they become a customer e.g. actually visiting your small business or signing a contract with a sales representative
* A lead is someone who has shown specific interest in your business and there is a strong likelihood they will become a new customer
These steps can then be measured with the following online marketing metrics:
Impressions (opportunities to see your ads, social media posts and more)
Website visitors
Number of sales, online bookings or calls
Number of new customers
These form the basis of your digital marketing objectives, but are relatively useless unless you make them SMART.
“How do I make my digital marketing objectives SMART?”
SMART stands for:
Specific - you need clear objectives with a starting point and finish point
Measurable - you need to add a number to them otherwise it’s open to interpretation as to whether you have been successful or not
Achievable - that number can’t be over ambitious otherwise it will be demoralising if you feel you can never achieve it
Relevant - it needs to be relevant to your business objectives and not just a “vanity” metric, e.g. a good email open rate may feel good to brag about, but it means nothing if no one takes up the offer in your email
Time-bound - you need to have a clear date on when you will achieve your objective so you can check whether you are on track during the course of your campaigns
An example SMART objective could be:
“To increase the number of impressions my business gets each month by 10%, from 5,000 to 5,500, by December 2023”
It’s specific - you clearly know what your base is and where you’re trying to get to
It’s measurable - with a clear number to aim for
It’s achievable - there is a clear percentage increase that isn’t over ambitious
It’s relevant - assuming the business has an overarching objective of attracting new customers, impressions is a relevant metric to focus on
It’s time bound - there is a clear date that this needs to be achieved by
“How do I know what number will be realistic?”
This is probably the hardest question to answer, but there are three main ways to approach it.
If you have done digital marketing in the past and have some historic figures to hand then use these. Think about the ways you can improve that performance with methods within your control (for example, increasing your number of social media postings or putting more budget into paid ads will help increase your number of impressions). This can give you a good idea of what you can aim for.
Work backwards from your business objective. If you know you absolutely have to get 50 more customers per month, then use past performance and rates to look at how many enquiries you would need to generate. Then how many website visitors you would need to attract. And keep working backwards until you get to your goal.
If you have no historic figures to work from, then do some research and get some benchmarks for your industry. You may need to review and refine these as you go along, but it will give you a ballpark figure to start with.
In summary
Digital marketing objectives are crucial to the success of your internet marketing strategy, and the overall success of your business, because they will help you to identify weaknesses and optimise those campaigns to improve performance. By aligning your marketing goals with your business objectives, ensuring they are SMART and by using existing figures, you can come up with clear and well-defined objectives to guide your marketing strategy for your small business.
If you’re still at a loss with your digital marketing objectives, or struggling to fit this into your day, it’s worth getting professional help. I offer expert digital marketing strategy advice and support - from a full digital marketing strategy for your small business, to help on specific areas such as your objectives. Get in touch to discuss your business needs in more detail.
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