How Goal Setting Can Transform Your Marketing
Get ready to level up your marketing game with Constant Contact's Ready, Set, Send Challenge! This week, we're kicking things off with the cornerstone of successful marketing: goal setting. Having clear, well-defined objectives is the foundation for success. By setting focused and achievable goals, you'll stay on track, make informed decisions, and measure your progress effectively.
I am Tracey Lee Davis, founder of ZingPop Social Media. I help small business owners become online marketing rock stars by discovering and acting on their goals. So, whether you're looking to boost sales, build brand awareness, or nurture customer relationships, this week I will help you discover how goal setting can transform your marketing efforts. If you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing, so let's discover the power of well-defined goals by watching the video, following our tips for goal setting, and then filling in our goal-setting worksheet.
Tips for Goal Setting
Well-defined goals help guide your decision-making and keep you on track. You will use these goals in the following weeks to guide how you design your emails, how you manage your contacts or grow your subscribers, and how you create engaging campaigns.
Your goals, as an email marketer, will vary based on your business needs Maybe you want to communicate with your contacts, but many new customers that come to Constant Contact have the goal of creating a brand presence. Because that’s a really big goal, it can feel daunting, and they may give up before they start. And setting those big goals isn’t SMART goal setting.
SMART Goal Setting
The goals of an email marketer will vary based on a business’ needs. The goal could be as simple as wanting to communicate with contacts, or as complex as starting a new business. If a goal is too broad, however, it can feel daunting and impossible. And setting those big goals isn’t SMART goal setting.
Hold on, I’m not yelling, at you, I promise. SMART goal setting is an acronym that will help you break down your big goals into those smaller, more well-defined objectives I talked about with Dave in the above video. SMART goals are:
- Specific: What are you trying to achieve?
- Measurable: What data will you collect to measure your success?
- Achievable: Is your goal possible?
- Relevant: Does your event goal align with your broader marketing goals?
- Time-bound: What’s your timeline to achieve your goal?
So what does it mean to have a SMART goal? Let’s put it into perspective.
Examples of SMART Goal Setting
Maybe you send a regular newsletter letting your association members know about upcoming events. In this case, your Specific, Measurable, and Achievable goal might look like more opens on your regular newsletter in the next month (Time-bound), which could translate to more people at your events (Relevant).
If you’re selling goods on an Etsy store, your goal could be to sell more products, which you can easily Measure. However, the goal still needs to be translated into an Achievable goal, such as selling more products in the next two weeks by targeting repeat customers or selling more products in the next three days with a limited-time offer.
What if your goal is to significantly build your brand presence? You have to start somewhere, and growing your subscriber list is a solid beginning. The next question is “how?” You could launch a campaign on your social media that directs users to a sign-up landing page, or use a QR code in your store that leads to an online opt-in form. If you already have a list, ensure your emails align with your brand. Additionally, consider creating an email content calendar that complements your social media strategy.
You can see how breaking your big goal into a few SMART goals can give you the focus you need, help you stay on track, and measure your progress effectively.
Your assignment:
- Complete the Creating Goals and Measuring Success worksheet to create your SMART goals. This should take 15 minutes or less.
- Reply below with a screenshot of your worksheet.
- What influenced you to choose this goal?
- If you had marketing goals set at the beginning of this year, have you seen any successes so far?
How you’ll earn your badge:
Reply below with your assignment, and you’ll receive the Week 1 badge and it will be proudly displayed on your Community profile! Keep an eye out in your inbox for a larger image to share on your own social channels once Week 1 is finished.
Extra credit: Want to learn more about goal setting? Watch our webinar: Decoding Online Marketing Success: Your Guide to Planning, Reviewing, and Executing
Resources:
- Handout: Foundations for Online Marketing Success worksheet
- Blog: SMART Goals
- Community link: Q&A: Decoding Online Marketing Success: Your Guide to Planning, Reviewing, and Executing
TL;DR
Transform your marketing by setting SMART goals. This week, learn how to set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound objectives to guide your campaigns. Watch the video, follow the tips, and fill out the goal-setting worksheet to kickstart your progress.
Your Assignment: Complete the worksheet and comment below with a screenshot! Once done, earn your Week 1 badge.
Not yet a Constant Contact customer but want to start crushing those goals? Start a free trial.
We’re excited to see your responses and develop your marketing strategy together!
Tracey Lee Davis ZingPop Social Media Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. |  |
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Great job, @user9178 Thank you for taking part in the first week of Ready, Set, Send. I hope you’re successful in your goal of renting office space. As a token of appreciation, I have just messaged you the week 1 participation badge. Feel free to post and share on your social channels.
Elevate your marketing with Constant Contact's Professional Design Services! From eye-catching email templates to custom branding and social media graphics, our professional design services are tailored to boost your business's impact and engagement. |  |
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Is there also a badge for the first person to complete ANY of the challenges for the whole event?! Because @user9178 is on top of things!
Tracey Lee Davis ZingPop Social Media Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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Woohoo! You are in the right place, @user9178! Thanks so much for getting things kicked off!
Tracey Lee Davis ZingPop Social Media Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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Hi @user189495,
What would be helpful is to set a number for the increase in visitors so you know if you reached your goal by the end of the date you have set. Work on that, and you will be ready for the next step of the challenge!
Tracey Lee Davis ZingPop Social Media Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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Here are our Smart Goals
Hi @BillI493!
Thanks for participating in the challenge. It's helpful to attach a specific number to your goals. You mention volume of new clients. Do you have a specific number you are trying to target? 100 more, a 10% increase? Having a number that you are working toward will help to measure your success!
Tracey Lee Davis ZingPop Social Media Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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@BillI493, that makes sense. For the sake of the exercise, can you think of a way to write your goal so that by the end of the quarter you know if you hit your target or not?
Tracey Lee Davis ZingPop Social Media Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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@OliviaC5273 this is great! This definitely is a SMART goal!
Tracey Lee Davis ZingPop Social Media Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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SMART work there @user42027 
I appreciate how you've aligned your marketing efforts with the larger goal of increasing your membership. Here are some suggestions that may help you fine-tune your strategy:
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Have you thought about splitting that group up even more? Like, you could customize your messages for new owners versus ones who've been in the game for a while, or even look at differences in location. Segmenting your emails can really help you talk to each audience in a way that works for them.
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You could check out running targeted ads on Facebook or LinkedIn. That way, you can reach out to childcare owners who might not know about you yet. Oh, and have you thought about trying out Google Ads to get more people searching for childcare businesses to come across your page? Just an idea!
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What about creating special landing pages for individuals who operate childcare businesses? You could develop pages that highlight the benefits of membership and use them to direct traffic from your ads or emails. You can also experiment with different messages or buttons to determine which ones generate the most engagement.
You’ve got a great foundation here! Keep going, and feel free to reach out if you want to brainstorm further. I’d love to hear how things progress!
Elevate your marketing with Constant Contact's Professional Design Services! From eye-catching email templates to custom branding and social media graphics, our professional design services are tailored to boost your business's impact and engagement. | |
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Hi @user42027,
This is all great information. One thing I would encourage you to do is to set a specific number for the amount of website visitors. 50 new visitors a month? A 12% increase? Getting a specific number set for that goal will allow you to measure to see if you are hitting your targets!
Tracey Lee Davis ZingPop Social Media Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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