Unrealistic marketing goals will leave your marketing program in limbo and stifel your team's ability to innovate. Here are some tips on making sure that doesn’t happen. 

Setting Realistic Marketing Goals

Look At The Numbers

Business metrics are a marketers life! They provide context, and set the standard for marketers to compare the performance of marketing programs. The key to creating realistic goals is setting benchmarks. 

A benchmark will show you what the norm is for a given metric and will allow the marketer to determine what is in the realm of possibilities for that metrics improvement. 

Look At Potential Obstacles 

Perspective is important for marketers because it allows them to predict how certain variables will impact the performance of their marketing campaign. In order to set realistic goals a marketer needs to be aware of internal and external variables that will impact performance. 

Setting Actionable Marketing Goals

Drill Down

Think about what your team needs to achieve and then break down what needs to take place for it to occur. As you start breaking up your goals the smaller objectives become more realistic and enable your team to take action. Think of it like trying to sell 12,000 units in a year, it seems quite daunting but it's actually just selling 33 units a day. 

Now let's say that for every 100 website visits your business gets 1 online order. That would mean your team would need approximately 3,300 website visits a day with a 1% conversion rate to meet the 12,000 unit sales goal. If your team can not achieve these metrics or some kind of balance between the two then it's time to rethink the goal. 

Reflect Your Team’s Capabilities

Marketing goals need to be a reflection of your team's capabilities. Ask yourself if your team has the skills necessary to achieve your marketing goals, if not here are two easy ways to make your goals more actionable. 

1. Change the goal so that it brings out your team's strengths. 
2. Factor in a learning period so that your team has enough time to develop the necessary skills. 

These two changes will make your goals more attainable without the need to increase your payroll expenses.