Integrated Marketing Plan
42 Objectives
What are the Campaign Objectives?
First off, we must define what a marketing plan is and the purpose of the plan. A marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be created to expand on an organization’s manifest. Marketing plans usually cover between one and five years. A marketing plan may be part of an organization’s overhead plan.
Within a marketing plan, organizations will highlight key marketing objectives that must be achieved in order to capture a larger customer group, satisfy customer needs, and identify opportunities to spread brand awareness or reinforce its reputation. A campaign objective is a defined goal that acts as a subordinate to a marketing initiative and provides direction to the team so that they can reach their marketing objectives.
Examples
Marketing Objectives
- To increase the number of participants by 40% in the Black Lives Matter movement by the end of the year.
- To increase donations by 75% by the end of fiscal.
Campaign Objectives
- To attract 1,000 people to march on June 20, 2020, Black Lives Matter movement.
- To increase social media traffic by 75% during a one-week educational workshop.
- To generate at least 30 new brand ambassadors by the end of the month.
In essence, marketing objectives focus on broader achievements and act as a guide to achieve organizational success by outlining a plan for their achievement, a budget to support the plan, and the management of assets and resources to achieve the objectives. Campaign objectives are more granular and focus on the short term or the duration of the marketing campaign that will contribute to the success of its marketing objectives.
Creating a Campaign Objective
So how does an organization set desirable but achievable objectives for its marketing campaigns?
You may have heard of the SMART principle for setting objectives. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Let’s explain what it means, along with some variations and considerations.
Specific
Create a goal that has a focused and clear path for what you actually need to do.
The key to setting any objective is to make it exact, clear, and specific. Being specific gives you direction. You will know your objective is specific enough if:
- Everyone who’s involved knows that it includes them specifically.
- Everyone involved can understand it.
- Your objective is free from slang and jargon.
Examples:
- I will drink water for health benefits
- I will increase my business revenues across all of my stores
Measurable
Is it measurable?
Ensure that you know when the objective has been achieved, and how they are going to track progress. This enables you to track your progress, and ties in with the “specific” component.
Good questions to use are “How will it keep me updated?”, and “What will success look like/feel like/sound like?”
Examples:
- I will drink 8 ounces of water 3 times for health benefits
- I will increase my business revenues by 50% across all of my stores
Attainable
Is this within your current capabilities and operating process?
Make sure that your goal is within your capabilities and not too far out of reach. For example, if you have not been physically active for a number of years, it would be highly unlikely that you would be able to achieve a goal of running a marathon within the next month.
Highly Unattainable Goals:
- I will drink 800 gallons of water 3 times for health benefits
- I will increase my business revenues by 10,000% across all of my stores
Realistic
Can this be achieved with your current resources?
Try to ensure that your goal is something you will be able to continue doing and incorporate as part of your regular routine/lifestyle. For example, if you made a goal to kayak two times each week, but don’t have the financial resources to purchase or rent the equipment, no way to transport it, or are not close enough to a body of water in which to partake in kayaking, then this is not going to be feasible.
Time-bound
Is there a time limit for your objectives so that opportunities are not wasted?
Give yourself a target date or deadline in which the goal needs to be met. This will keep you on track and motivated to reach the goal, while also evaluating your progress.
Examples:
- I will drink 8 ounces of water 3 times per hour for health benefits
- I will increase my business revenues by 50% across all of my stores by the end of the year
To summarize, a useful methodology when setting successful objectives is to make them S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound). These S.M.A.R.T objectives should be aligned with the organization’s values and overall goals. When objectives are S.M.A.R.T, it’ll set your organization up for success by providing direction, organization, and ensuring the business is always adapting to market changes.
Attribution
This page contains material taken from:
Effective Marketer. (2010, November 29). Marketing by Objectives. Retrieved from The Effective Marketer: https://effective-marketer.com/tag/marketing-plan/
Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Behavior Change and Goal Setting. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from Lumen Learning: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-monroecc-hed110/chapter/three-levels-of-health-promotiondisease-prevention/
Resourcily. (n.d.). How to set SMART Objectives. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from Resourcily: https://www.resourcily.com/resources/performance-management/how-to-set-smart-objectives
Wikibooks. (n.d.). Business Strategy/Marketing Plans and Strategies. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from Wikibooks: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Business_Strategy/Marketing_Plans_and_Strategies
