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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Even in nonprofits, and where 'services' may not necessarily be a 'product' of what we do, it is important to attain a high number of 'followers'
We are looking forward to more targeted marketing efforts to round out 2024 and enter into 2025!
Thank you for participating!
Do you have data of previous sales of packages/gift certificates? Is that something you had already been promoting in the past? I'm just curious, because it could be good to reflect on how many you were selling previously and if it's been, say, less than the 3/week you're aiming for, you can review your previous messaging to see how effective it was or areas of improvement.
One thought that came to mind, if you aren't already doing it, is if you've collected birthday information of your clients, you could send out a targeted happy birthday message with an offer for a discount on the package/gift certificate (if you can swing it). Or even just a promotion that's something like, "Receive x% discount on one package/gift certification when you buy one for someone else!"
Otherwise, you know your clients best. What do their day-to-day lives look like? Are they busy? Possibly stressed? Could you try to anticipate and appeal to their concerns and how indulging in one of your clinic's packages could alleviate or help manage their concerns? I don't fully know what type of clinic you're running, but I took a glance at your account so I have a little idea.
Or maybe you could leverage segmentation, to identify which contacts have previously purchased packages/gift certificates. Maybe they would be most likely to do so again? Or you might not want to bother them if they've bought them recently?
Content Manager 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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We chose this goal as an initial beta test of finding new supporters for our mission. It will also be a way for us to determine whether we can expand this initiative in the coming year.
~ J. LeRoy
These are well curated and thought out goals @perintonamb! I love that you know your audience and have a clear path in mind on how you want to achieve the goal of getting your participants to convert to first-time donors. I also like how you have a plan to make a specific landing page just for your target audience. This will be HUGE! I can't wait to see what you contribute in the coming weeks for the next challenges. Keep me posted!
Abigail St Jean Community Program ManagerHelp others find this post by giving it kudos. | |
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Hey @RobertB7888
Feel free to ask any questions, no matter how silly they may seem. Just send over your worksheet in a reply to this thread. https://community.constantcontact.com/t5/Campaign-Feedback/Week-1-Goal-Setting/td-p/425914
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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color me confused. i filled out the worksheet. i get a badge. yet i cannot find a way to send it/attach it so that i can get some advice/help without going through all this??? here's the copied content:
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