1. Define Your
Goals
The most critical step
in the planning process is to define your goals. Not just any goals
though… we need SMART goals. SMART is a mnemonic that stands for Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
Every goal must meet those 5 criteria so let’s walk through each one.
Specific
Too often I hear
business owners set goals like “more leads” and “more sales.” That’s
not a real goal! How many more leads? Exactly how much growth would you
be happy with this year? How many more phone calls would you like to
receive each month? If you already set your goals, then review them to
make sure they are specific.
Measurable
Your goals must be
measurable so you know if you’re moving closer or further away from
achieving them. With digital marketing, you can use Google Analytics to
measure many of your goals.
Achievable
It’s fun to set lofty
goals and dream big, but make sure they are achievable within the year.
Goals should excite and motivate you and your team year after year, not
demoralize you.
Relevant
Does your goal even
matter? If you achieve it, then how does that goal impact your bottom
line? Ranking #1 in Google for “new york city pediatric dentist” is
specific, measurable, and probably achievable, but it’s not relevant
for a dentist that doesn’t work with children.
Time-Bound
Since we’re working on
the year’s goals, the absolute deadline is the 31st of December. Some
goals can and should be completed sooner so set the most appropriate
date. It’s amazing how something as simple as setting a deadline can
make all the difference in the world when it comes to accomplishing
your goals.
2. Work
Backwards to Define KPIs & Monthly Goals
OK, at this point you
have your goals set. Let’s say your goal is to generate $1MM in sales
by the 31st of December. That could be a SMART goal for a business that
did less than a million last year.
The next step is to
work backward from that day in the future when you will hit your goal.
This step will highlight the key performance indicators (KPIs) you need
to track in your business each month to hit your ultimate goal.
Start by thinking about
what December will look like. I know this sounds strange, but trust me,
this simple mind game is critical for planning. Try to picture yourself
in the future when you’ve already accomplished your goals.
How many sales did you
do in December in order to hit your total goal? For example, to
generate $1MM in sales, you need $83K per month over the entire year.
Of course, this is a simplified example, and to be more accurate you’ll
want to assume a growth rate month over month so that you’re generating
more sales in December versus January.
To generate $83K/month,
then how many sales did you make? If your average customer value is
$500, then that’s 167 sales/month. How many leads do you need in order
to make 167 sales? If your sales conversion rate is 10%, then that’s
1,670 leads. How many website visitors do you need to generate 1,670
leads? You’ll need to look at your historical website analytics to
figure this one out. If your visitor to lead conversion rate is also
10%, then you need 16,700 visitors per month.
See how we just worked
backward to determine the important online marketing KPIs? Now we know
our monthly website visitor goal is about 16,700 in order to hit our
sales goal of $1MM.
3. Get Real
The third step is to
reality-check your goals based on the KPIs you found in step 2. Is it
realistic for you to generate over 16,000 website visitors using your
traffic tactics? Are your conversion rates attainable based on
historical data or similar businesses?
To answer the questions
at this point, you’ll need to do some research and probably talk to an
expert. The most important question to answer is whether or not there
is enough online traffic to hit your goals. For example, if you find
using Google’s Keyword Planner
Tool there are 100,000 searches for your product or service
in Google, then could you get 16,000 visitors from SEO and Google Ads
advertising?
16% of all searches may
not sound like a lot, but keep in mind that a 2% click-through rate is
pretty good in Google Ads. Unless you’re an expert in search engine
marketing (SEM), I recommend talking to someone who is to see if your
goals are realistic. The same goes for other traffic sources like
display advertising, email, partnerships, and social media.
If you find out your
goals are actually unrealistic, then go back to step #1 above and
revise them. Better to find this out now before you invest an entire
year chasing an unattainable dream!
4. Assign
Responsibilities
The final step should
be fairly quick and easy. Determine who on your team is going to be
responsible for implementing and measuring progress each month. If you
have big growth plans, then keep in mind it’s possible you’ll need to
hire in-house, or outsource, to hit your goals.
Need Help with
Your Marketing Plan?
If you need help
refining or implementing your marketing plan, contact us
today.
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