10 marketing objectives examples – a start to finish guide

Marketing your business is one of the most important activities for any business owner. However, not all marketing is equal. If you want to see your marketing efforts pay off, you need to set some marketing objectives. 

In this post, we’ll walk you through marketing objectives and share examples of common ones you can use in your business. But first let’s learn what marketing objectives are.

What Are Marketing Objectives?

Marketing objectives is a term that’s often used interchangeably with marketing goals. However, the two terms are very different. Marketing goals are those you set for your business and should align with your overall vision. 

Marketing objectives, on the other hand, are measurable actions that you’ll take so you can achieve your goals. 

Why Are Marketing Objectives Important?

Marketing objectives help your employees understand what you expect from them and they give them a goal to work towards. When you have a clear set of marketing objectives, you can easily decide which marketing strategies and tasks you’ll use to achieve those goals. As a direct result, marketing objectives also help you understand how well a particular marketing strategy is performing so you can measure your progress. 

How To Set Marketing Objectives?

The best way to set marketing objectives for your business is to use the S.M.A.R.T. criteria. In other words, your marketing objectives need to be:

• S – specific. Your marketing objectives should be clear and include all the relevant details of who, what, how, when, and why. 
• M – measurable. Think about specific statistics and numbers you can track to determine the success of your marketing campaigns. These will be the Key Performance Indicators that you’ll have to keep track of on a regular basis. 
• A – achievable. Keep in mind that if your objective is too ambitious, you’re more likely to be overwhelmed by it which can end in failure. 
• R – realistic. Similarly to the above, the goal also needs to be realistic based on your previous achievements and resources you have available. 
• T – timebound. Finally, your marketing objective should have a set deadline so everyone on your team understands the timeline and knows when the objective begins and ends. 

Ten Marketing Objectives Examples

So now that we’ve covered what marketing objectives are, why they are important, and how to set them, let’s go over some specific marketing objectives that you can use in your business. 

1. Grow Brand Awareness

A common marketing objective for new businesses or businesses that have a small audience is to grow their brand awareness and get more people familiar with their brand. 

A practical example could be: guest posting on five websites relevant to our target audience or appearing on five niche podcasts per quarter. A KPI that you can use to measure this objective is traffic coming from these websites or podcasts. 

2. Increase In Sales

Another common marketing objective for many businesses is to increase their sales. This refers both to product-based and service-based businesses and it’s an objective that will directly lead to more revenue in your business. 

An example would be: increase online sales by 15% by the end of Q3. In this case, the number of sales generated by the end of Q3 would be your KPI. 

3. Increase The Number Of Leads

Whether you want to increase the number of email subscribers (which could eventually turn into customers and clients) or if you want to fill your CRM software with qualified prospects, this marketing objective will help you do that. 

An example of a lead generation marketing objective would be: launch three new funnels in Q2 to increase the number of leads by 5%. Your KPI is the number of leads generated in Q2. 

4. Increase The Number Of Online Customer Reviews

Another great marketing objective is to increase the number of online customer reviews. This can refer to online review sites like Yelp, TrustPilot, Facebook, Google My Business, and similar. 

An example of this objective would be: generate 50 reviews per month on Google My Business where the KPI would be the number of reviews. 

5. Decrease Customer Churn

If you have a SaaS (Software as a Service) or a PaaS (Product as a Service), your marketing objective could be decreasing customer churn instead of focusing on customer acquisition. 

You can use the following example to set your own marketing objective for decreasing customer churn: decrease customer churn by 2% each quarter where the KPI is your churn rate. 

6. Expand Digital Presence

If you’ve been focusing on a select few online platforms to interact with your audience or if you don’t have an online presence at all, your marketing objective could be to expand your digital presence. 

For example, your marketing objective, in this case, could be: launch a blog and publish 8 posts per month to increase organic traffic. Your KPI would, obviously, be the number of blog posts you’ve published in a given month.

7. Increase Your Market Share

Increasing your market share is one of the most important marketing objectives. By increasing your market share, you become less dependent on external variables such as changes in your local tax policy or the general state of the economy. 

An example of this marketing objective could be: achieving a market share of 30% for a specific product within 2 years. Your KPI for this objective could be the number of customers compared to the number of customers for a competing product. 

8. Promote New Services Or Products

This marketing objective is crucial if you want to launch a new offer. This objective can also help you tap into a new market and expand your customer base. 

An example of this objective would be: sell 5000 units within 30 days of product launch and your KPI is the number of units sold within those 30 days. 

9. Increase The Number Of Lead Sources

Getting new leads for your business is crucial, whether you’re selling services or products. For this example, you might want to establish different lead sources so you can fill your pipeline consistently with qualified leads. 

An example of this marketing objective would be: launch and test 3 new lead generation methods per month in 2020 to find three successful methods of generating consistent leads in 2021. In this case, your KPI could be the conversion rate for each lead generation method. 

10. Increase Website Conversion Rate

Increasing your website conversion rate directly leads to more subscribers, more leads, and more sales. This is another objective that directly impacts your business revenue. 

An example of this marketing objective would be: improve the conversion rate by 5% by the end of Q3 and the KPI would be your conversion rate. 

Set SMART Marketing Objectives For Your Business

If you take just one thing from this article, let it be this: a marketing strategy without smart marketing objectives won’t do your business any good. Use the tips in this article to help you decide which marketing objectives you should set for your business so you can market more effectively. Whether your goal is promoting a new product or service, increasing customer reviews, or boosting sales, marketing objectives will help you gain clarity and you’ll find your goals much more attainable. 

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