Setting smart marketing goals is the key to generating better results from your marketing campaigns, projects, and strategies. They allow you to break down your goals into more precise, specific, and attainable steps to help you stay motivated and prioritize your actions better.
SMART marketing goals are actionable objectives you intend to accomplish to support your company’s broader business targets within a given period. SMART is an acronym that signifies that your goals are specific, measurable, achievable/aspirational, realistic/relevant, and timely.
Creating SMART goals helps to clarify what you want to achieve. So, you and your marketing team can figure out the best tactics to implement to turn your plans into a reality.
These SMART marketing goal examples will show you how to turn a regular marketing objective into a SMART goal by ensuring that it checks every box and letter of the acronym. So when you are ready to start setting your own SMART marketing goals, you’ll know how to do it.
1. Get More Website Or Social Media Engagement
SMART Goal:
We will boost engagement on our website by 100% by publishing five blog posts weekly. Plus, we insert three or more links to our internal content into each post.
Specific: I want to:
- Drive new visitors to the company’s website
- Increase the time spent on the site and the number of page views per visit
I will achieve this by increasing the number of blog posts we publish weekly from two to five. We will also increase our usage of internal links from one to three per post.
Measurable: We aim to double website engagement.
Achievable/Aspirational: By boosting website engagement, we can drive brand awareness and increase the number of leads we get.
Realistic/Relevant: The number of monthly visitors to our website went from 0 to 10000 (as of last month) after we began publishing twice-weekly blog posts six months ago. So, our goal is attainable. We can afford to hire a freelance writer to handle the extra workload.
Timely: We plan to achieve this in three months.
2. Rank Higher In Search Engines
SMART Goal:
By the end of the year, we will increase our search results page position from 12th to the top 3 for our main brand-related keywords to drive more organic traffic. This also leads to our pages through keyword and content optimization.
Specific: I want to boost our SEO performance and secure the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ranking positions for the target keyword(s) “smart marketing goal examples” by increasing keyword usage and optimizing our content to be more valuable than our competitors.
Measurable: The aim is to climb 9-12 spots higher on search engine result pages (SERPs) from our current position.
Achievable/Aspirational: Higher rankings will drive more organic traffic to our site, increase our authority, and raise awareness for our brand.
Realistic/Relevant: Based on my research, many companies have achieved similar rank results in a shorter time frame, and we have the resources—writers, editors, and SEO specialists—to pull it off.
Timely: End of this year.
3. Increase Email Open Rates
SMART Goal:
By the end of November, we will reach an email open rate of 40% by improving our segmentation and personalization efforts and running split tests on email campaigns.
Specific: I want to achieve a 40% email open rate for my company by
- Split testing
- Personalizing messages
- Dividing the subscriber list into segments based on audience personas, interests, purchasing behaviors, and demographic data.
Measurable: Our target is to hit an email open rate of 40%.
Achievable/Aspirational: Improving the email open rate will increase click-through and conversion rates and align with the company’s larger goals.
Realistic/Relevant: Our research showed that many brands have been able to boost open rates significantly in a similar time frame, and we have the means to accomplish the goal.
Timely: In the next four months.
4. Grow Brand Awareness
SMART Goal:
In six months, we will boost our social media following, reach, and engagement by up to 50%. We can do this by creating and sharing more educational interview-type blog posts and video content.
Specific: I want to grow brand awareness for our fintech company by creating a new content series (video and blog posts). We interview one person weekly to learn about their money habits and share the post across our Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube pages.
Measurable: Our goal is a 50% increase in post reach, views, follower/subscriber count, and social shares.
Achievable/Aspirational: If we raise brand awareness, it will bring in more leads and conversions.
Realistic/Relevant: We have content writers, editors, and video creators who can write, produce, direct, and edit the content for the series.
Timely: Six months from now.
5. Improve Conversion Rates
SMART Goal:
We need to multiply the conversation rate for our landing page by 15% within the next five months by redesigning the landing page and updating the copy.
Specific: I want to convert more visitors into leads by revamping our current landing page and rewriting the page copy.
Measurable: We are shooting for a 15% rise in conversions.
Achievable/Aspirational: Improving conversation rates will give our sales team more marketing-qualified leads to work with.
Realistic/Relevant: We have the resources to meet this goal. This landing page generated higher conversions in the past, but the numbers have declined for a while. The last time we redesigned our landing page, we got a 10% uptick in conversions.
Timely: In the next five months.
6. Generate New Leads
SMART Goal:
We will bring in 100 new leads by the end of the year by carrying out targeted campaigns on social media involving a mix of paid and organic posts.
Specific: I want to increase the number of leads the business generates in the coming months by launching social media marketing campaigns on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Most of our current clients come from these sources, so we should aim to invest more in these platforms.
Measurable: Our target is to acquire 100 new leads.
Achievable/Aspirational: Our lead generation efforts will give the sales team more opportunities to close leads and fatten our bottom line.
Realistic/Relevant: Our last social media outreach campaign generated 70 new leads in five months.
Timely: The timeline for achieving this is five months.
7. Drive More Sales
SMART Goal:
To boost sales numbers for the next quarter by 10%. Consistently publishing promotional posts on social media can drive more organic traffic to the website.
Specific: I want to increase the number of sales conversions on our website from 2000 purchases to 2200 through social media marketing.
Measurable: The target metric is to generate 10% more conversions.
Achievable/Aspirational: Raising sales numbers will translate to higher revenue for the business.
Realistic/Relevant: Our social media marketer can handle creating and sharing more promotional content on our pages.
Timely: In three months.
8. Increase Customer Retention
SMART Goal:
In the next year, we will see a 40% increase in customer retention rates by creating a multi-tiered loyalty program.
Specific: I want to build a loyal and happy customer base by raising retention numbers by 40% with the help of a structured loyalty program.
Measurable: Our target metric for this goal is a 40% higher retention rate.
Achievable/Aspirational: Focusing on increasing customer loyalty contributes to the stability of the business and helps us maintain a consistent revenue stream.
Realistic/Relevant: We did some research and found companies in similar niches that could increase customer retention by up to 60% in three to twelve months.
Timely: Within twelve months.
9. Establish Thought Leadership
SMART Goal:
Within nine months, we will establish our brand as a thought leader in the field of “employee onboarding and enablement” through content marketing—creating and publishing 90 blog posts.
Specific: I want to build the company’s reputation as an expert on all things relating to employee onboarding and enablement. We’ll write 90 blog posts or 2-3 posts weekly on industry-related topics and promote them to our audience base.
Measurable: We aim to write 90 blog posts about employee enablement that rank at the top of the SERPs.
Achievable/Aspirational: Strengthening our thought leadership will put the brand in front of more people and open up more avenues to make sales.
Realistic/Relevant: Although we are just kickstarting our content marketing journey, we have the human and financial resources to pull this off.
Timely: It will take nine months to reach this goal.
10. Reduce Customer Churn
SMART Goal:
Retaining customers is far less expensive than acquiring new ones. We aim to bring down customer churn by 10% over the next six months by improving the quality of our customer service.
Specific: I want to cut down the churn rate for our brand by providing an excellent customer experience. We’ll work with the rest of the marketing team to interview existing and potential customers to discover their challenges with our product and service.
Measurable: Our target churn reduction rate is 10%.
Achievable/Aspirational: Reducing customer churn will help improve brand reputation and save the business a load of customer acquisition costs.
Realistic/Relevant: We recently expanded our support team, so we can afford to devote more energy to keeping our customers happy and satisfied.
Timely: Six months from now.
11. Develop Stronger Relationships With Stakeholders
SMART Goal:
Over the next year, we will build stronger relationships with stakeholders by prioritizing clear, honest, and consistent communication and periodic touch-base sessions at the end of every month.
Specific: I want to strengthen rapport with the organization’s stakeholders through effective communication and implementing a feedback system.
Measurable: The metrics we will use to measure this goal are monthly surveys and NPS score evaluation.
Achievable/Aspirational: Building positive relationships with stakeholders will help foster trust, support, and cooperation in pursuing the company’s mission and broader business strategy and marketing objectives.
Realistic/Relevant: We have everything we need to make this goal a reality.
Timely: We plan to achieve this in twelve months.
12. Gain More Social Media Followers
SMART Goal:
By the end of the next quarter, we plan to add 8% more followers to our Twitter account, and 30% more to our TikTok and Instagram accounts by doubling the weekly posts we share.
Specific: I want to increase the company’s follower base on Instagram and TikTok by 30% and on Twitter by 8%. We’ll reach this by sharing three-five tweets, one video/reel, and two image-based posts daily featuring educational, industry news, promotional, and user-generated content.
Measurable: We aim to grow our Twitter followers by 8% and Instagram and TikTok followers by 30% each.
Achievable/Aspirational: Growing our follower base will expand the brand’s reach, engagement, and awareness. All of which will help to drive leads and sales.
Realistic/Relevant: Using a similar tactic, we could grow our TikTok and Instagram accounts by 20% in four months, so this is attainable.
Timely: We aim to achieve this in three months.
13. Grow An Email List
SMART Goal:
By the end of the next quarter, we will increase our email subscriber list by 60% using lead magnets and Facebook ads.
Specific: I want to grow our list of email subscribers by creating three lead magnets—an ebook and two white papers—with the help of our content writers and editor. We will also be running ads on Facebook to promote the resources.
Measurable: We are aiming to go from 6,000 to about 10,000 subscribers.
Achievable/Aspirational: Growing our email list will raise brand awareness, increase blog traffic, and strengthen lead generation and nurturing efforts.
Realistic/Relevant: This strategy has increased email subscriptions by 50% in the last quarter.
Timely: We want to achieve this in three months.
14. Drive More Click-Throughs On Paid Ads
SMART Goal:
By the end of the next quarter, we will boost clicks on our Facebook and Google ads by up to 15%. We can do this by writing compelling copy, incorporating high-quality visuals, sharpening our CTAs, and A/B testing different ad variations.
Specific: I want to see a 15% increase in our click-through rates (CTRs) for Google Ads and Facebook Ads by adding visuals, crafting better copy and CTA, and conducting A/B tests.
Measurable: We aim to increase our ad click rate by 15%.
Achievable/Aspirational: Improving the CTR on paid ads will drive lead generation and conversions.
Realistic/Relevant: We boosted ad clicks by 10% using similar tactics in the past.
Timely: Three months from now.
15. Reach New Audiences Or Demographics
SMART Goal:
In the next six months, we will raise awareness and engagement for our brand amongst Gen Z audiences. We can achieve this by 60% building customer personas, running targeted ads on social media, and collaborating with two or three influencers on TikTok and Instagram, where the target audience likes to hang out.
Specific: Reach and connect with potential buyers belonging to the Gen Z demographic using personas, influencer marketing, and social media ads on Instagram and TikTok.
Measurable: Our goal is to increase brand awareness amongst Gen Z audiences by 60%.
Achievable/Aspirational: Reaching new customer segments will give the business more opportunities to make sales and generate revenue.
Realistic/Relevant: After combing through case studies and campaign reports from similar brands, we determined that we could realistically achieve this goal with our budget and resources.
Timely: Within six months.
What Are Some SMART Goals For Marketing?
SMART goals help you circumvent vagueness and demotivation. They clarify your intentions and give you a yardstick you can use to determine whether you are progressing towards your objectives or falling behind.
Some SMART goal examples for marketing that apply to most businesses include:
- Increasing website traffic
- Boosting brand awareness
- Growing email subscribers
- Getting more conversions
What Are The 5 SMART Goals In Marketing?
SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable/aspirational, realistic/relevant, and timely. For a goal to be SMART, it must have a specific or clearly defined target, a way to measure your performance, and an end result to aspire to that wouldn’t naturally occur.
It must also be realistically possible for you to achieve based on your performance history and available resources. Also, it has a time limit during which you will reach the set milestone.
What’s An Example Of A SMART Goal?
A SMART goal has to be specific, measurable, achievable/aspirational, realistic/relevant, and timely. For example, you can set a SMART goal to increase your search results page position from 12th to the top 3 for your core business keywords. This drives more organic traffic and leads to your pages through keyword and content optimization in the next 12 months.
What Is An Example Of A Marketing Goal?
A marketing goal is any specific and measurable growth-driven objective you want to achieve using one or more marketing strategies. For example, if you say you want to grow the number of social media followers on your page, you’ve set a marketing goal.