I’m amazed how much money people are given in their marketing budgets with goals like ‘increase the Company’s revenue’. Managers must have money to throw away! No goal is worth setting unless it is a SMART goal.
SMART stands for : Specific – Measurable – Attainable – Realistic – Timely.
My number one rule for setting goals is not to pluck them out of thin air – look at current figures and trends to find realistic goals. You should always aim to beat what would happen, had you not embarked on the project.
Specific – A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions so far as they are applicable:
• Who – Who is involved?
• What – What must be accomplished?
• Where – Identify a location
• When – Establish a time frame
• Which – Identify requirements and constraints.
• Why – Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
EXAMPLE: A general goal would be “increase website traffic”. But a specific goal would say, “through adding 5 pages of the agreed additional content per week, increase natural traffic on the website by 10% over current average growth rate by December 31st 2009, allowing for seasonal trends, in order to increase the number of orders by 1%”.
Measurable – Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?
Attainable – Don’t set goals that are always unattainable as you (or whoever you are setting the goal for) will get a constant sense of failure! On the other hand, setting goals that are too easy won’t be a challenge. Look at past campaigns, current figures, trends etc. Aim to beat past efforts by a realistic amount. Always, always set your goal well above what would happen anyway, if you weren’t running the project.
Realistic – To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. Be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Again look at past work, past trends etc to see what people have accomplished before and try to shoot above it.
Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency.
Featured image source: New Found Balance