Smart Corporate Marketing Objectives

Smart Corporate Marketing Objectives Marketing objectives should be based on understanding strengths and weaknesses, and the business environment you operate in. They should also be linked to the overall corporate strategy and So before you start marketing, set some objectives, SMART ones. What do I mean by SMART objectives? Well, its one of those business acronyms taught in all business and marketing qualifications, but unlike many others, this one is actually worth bothering with. Specific Your SMART objectives should be specific, detailed, well defined and results orientated. They should include exactly what has to be achieved and by who. Measurable Objectives are far more effective when they have a measure. For example to increase sales has little effect, but to increase sales by 25% gives you a specific measure to work to. This measure can then be evaluated and used to help form new SMART objectives in the future. Achievable Your SMART objectives must stretch you, but at the same time be achievable. There is no point in setting objectives that you wont be able to achieve for years, as you will soon lose motivation. Realistic Closely linked to achievable, realistic relates more to resources. Do you have the man-power, money, time and opportunity to achieve the SMART objectives? Is there something else that has to happen before you can make a start on that objective Timed Perhaps most importantly set deadlines for achieving your SMART objectives time frames are great at prompting action. It is worth noting that the marketing plan objectives should always lead to actual sales revenue. If not, you need to re-examine your marketing objectives and restate them so that they relate to sales results. In simple words marketing objectives should be: Clear and specific Tangible and measurable Be time-based, with a target achievement date Linking marketing objectives to corporate strategy Your marketing objectives should also be consistent with and indicate the priorities of the organization. This means that objectives should flow from the mission statement of your business, towards the financial objectives and to the rest of the marketing plan. A linked marketing objective could be to add pre-packaged garden soil as a new complementary product line to be offered with plant sales. To grow the business as per the strategic goal and meet the financial objective of 100,000 in extra sales, it has been calculated that a total of 7,500 bags will need to be sold at their selling price of  £100 each. ACTIONS REQUIRED TO ACHIVE MARKETING OBJECTIVES To run a business successfully, today, one must consider the need for publicity, an online presence, direct marketing, advertising, brand identity, word of mouth advertising, networking, viral marketing, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, positioning, market segmentation, html email campaigns, experiential marketing, etc. Many of these activities are phase I functions that need to be considered and begun from day one of marketing. Here are 5 main factors to achieve the marketing objectives: Marketing should be broken into stages. Every marketing activity should be weighted by how well it addresses business objectives, then by investment and how fast it delivers return on investment. Also, the chronology is important. For example, it would be ineffective to run an html email campaign before developing and launching your web site. Time will be in short supply early on. Working with one marketing firm will help to streamline communication, reporting and execution. Start with publicity. If you are able to achieve some quality article placements in key media, you will be able to use that publicity in coming months/years and in other marketing vehicles to build brand awareness and credibility. Set reasonable expectations for response and return on specific marketing activities. Remember that your company is an unknown entity to your marketplace until you are able to begin building brand awareness and identity. This will take time. Dont change course from a marketing plan that isnt broken, simply because youre growing impatient in other aspects of your business. Be realistic about your budget. In business, you might or might not be able to invest in simultaneous, integrated initiatives. Likewise, if your budget needs to be amended, let your marketing team know. They will adjust the plan and schedule to meet that new reality. Detailed Review of plans and programs At this stage, you will need to review your overall marketing objectives into detailed plans and program. Although these detailed plans may cover each of the 7 Ps, the focus will vary, depending upon your organizations specific strategies. A company will focus for the 7 Ps around each of its products. A market or geographically oriented company will concentrate on each market or geographical area. Each will base its plans upon the detailed needs of its customers, and on the strategies chosen to satisfy these needs. These plans therefore are: Clear They should be an unambiguous statement of exactly what is to be done. Quantified The predicted outcome of each activity should be, as far as possible, quantified; so that its performance can be monitored. Focused The temptation to proliferate activities beyond the numbers which can be realistically controlled should be avoided. Realistic They should be achievable. Agreed Those who are to implement them should be committed to them, and agree that they are achievable. The resulting plans should become a working document which will guide the campaigns taking place throughout the organization over the period of the plan Measurement of Marketing objectives Continuous monitoring of performance, against predetermined targets, represents a most important aspect of marketing. However, perhaps even more important is the enforced discipline of a regular formal review. Again, as with forecasts, in many cases the best (most realistic) planning cycle will revolve around a quarterly review. Best of all, at least in terms of the quantifiable aspects of the plans, if not the wealth of backing detail, is probably a quarterly rolling review. Performance analysis The most important elements of marketing performance, which are normally tracked, are: Sales analysis Most organizations track their sales results and marketing .The more sophisticated track them in terms of sales variance the deviation from the target figures which allows a more immediate picture of deviations to become evident. `Micro-analysis, which is a nicely pseudo-scientific term for the normal management process of investigating detailed problems, then investigates the individual elements (individual products, sales territories, customers and so on) which are failing to meet targets. Market share analysis Few organizations track market share though it is often an important metric. Though absolute sales might grow in an expanding market, share of the market can decrease for future sales when the market starts to drop. Where such market share is tracked, there may be a number of aspects which will be followed: overall market share segment share that in the specific, targeted segment relative share -in relation to the market leaders annual fluctuation rate of market share Expense analysis The key ratio to watch in this area is usually the `marketing expense to sales ratio; although this may be broken down into other elements (advertising to sales, sales administration to sales, and so on). Financial analysis The bottom line of marketing activities should at least in theory, be the net profit (for all except non-profit organizations, where the comparable emphasis may be on remaining within budgeted costs).