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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Awesome goal @LaineA! What kind of content will you be using to increase your memberships? Newsletters? Social media contest? Weekly email challenges? Consider something playful and fun- especially in the coming months! Join us in the rest of the challenges and we can't wait to see what you come up with! Check back in with us in December- I'm fully invested at this point.
Abigail St Jean Community Program ManagerHelp others find this post by giving it kudos. |  |
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Hi @EvgenyR95,
While I understand your endgame with your goal, it is not very specific or measurable. I would recommend reviewing the components of SMART goals and see if you can come up with something a little more fleshed out. Staying top of mind is not a bad thing to want at all, but it is difficult to measure. Maybe think about engagement on social media and your email marketing. You can measure your open or click-through rates and your engagement on social media... These sorts of data points are indicators that you are showing up in front of your target audience and they are paying attention.
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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Week 1. Done.
Hi @user625032 thanks for posting the photo of the form, but it's not readable. Can you please try another image that is sharper?
David Fischer Solutions For Growth Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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Hi @JOES9041,
This is great! It's a perfect SMART goal. One thing I would mention is that if you have your clients' email addresses already in another database (not Constant Contact), it is permissible for you to add them to your CTCT account. These folks fall under the "Implied Consent" category for collecting email addresses. Since you already have a working relationship with them, you can add them to your list without them giving you express permission to do so. So that might help you reach your goal a little bit faster! 
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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I know I am late to the challenge, but I still want to participate because it is important to me to reach my goal.
Hey @MaryC7410! It doesn't look like any image attached to your post so we can't see your goals. Do you want to try attaching again and we can weigh in and give any advice!
Abigail St Jean Community Program ManagerHelp others find this post by giving it kudos. | |
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@user164931 nice to see that you'll use revenue as a measure of success. Make sure to use another quantifiable gauge to determine progress. How will you measure customer retention and satisfaction?
You want to be the go-tech partner for healthcare in PR - that is super. Constant Contact has all the right tools to make that happen. It's very important that you have the right messaging (content) you'll be using on social media, email and other tools. What that means is WHY should other use you. HOW are you different from other firms? Give careful thought so your messaging answers those questions and you STAND APART from others.
As a 14 year old marketing agency that specializes in email marketing, we offer clients deep experience in small business marketing. The goal is to help you grow!
David Fischer Solutions For Growth Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. | |
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- What influenced you to choose this goal?
I am fairly new to the company and want to make sure that we are reaching and increasing our lists as well as our impact in the integrated health field.
- If you had marketing goals set at the beginning of this year, have you seen any successes so far?
I did not have a goal in the beginning of this year.
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