¿Cómo defines tus metas y objetivos de marketing online?

Don’t make these goals in a silo of marketers only. Big mistake! Instead, this is the time to involve stakeholders. Ask them for their business goals and then set marketing goals to align with the business goals!

Start with aligning interdepartmental goals and overall commercial objectives for the company. There's absolutely no point in marketing operating in a vacuum (which sadly, I see happening all too often). Ensure that you've got the C-Suite on-side too. Once you've got a clear understanding of the overarching goals and alignment with the sales department, ensure that you create a two-way marketing/sales SLA and agree a commonly understood set of leading indicators against which to measure progress. Focus on the metrics that matter, rather than the numbers that flatter.

A social media audit will reveal your weakness and strong points giving you a snapshot of what’s happening now. Make sure to record everything you see - data, content format, reach, engagement so you not only have a clear picture - but you can start measuring growth. Use your audit as your starting line!

I suggest you break it into 3, 6 and 12 month goals. The first 3 months concentrate on quick fixes and quick wins on social media, while also starting in the long game, for example optimizing the blog. 6 month goals might include adding a new social media platform. By 12 months, your goals need to include bigger campaigns, larger ideas and better results.

This is your opportunity to look at all the tools in your toolbox to help you achieve success. Leverage a variety of campaigns - social media, email, display advertising, website content, SEO, etc. Consider what mix would be the most effective at helping you to succeed in your objective. Most importantly - set yourself up so that you can track results. Use UTMs at the end of URLs to see which campaigns are driving the most results. Use a unique hashtag for social media and influencer campaigns to track reach. Leverage a website analytics platform like Google Analytics or SiteImprove to track website engagement. For SEO, use a tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs to track impact on organic search and page rankings.

Defining your online marketing goals and objectives is like planning a road trip. You need to know your destination (the goal) and the stops you need to make along the way (the objectives). You wouldn't just hop in the car and drive aimlessly, would you? Your goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound - like wanting to reach the world's largest rubber duck collection by sunset. Your objectives are the steps to get there, like ensuring you have enough gas, snacks, and good tunes to enjoy the journey. It's all about charting the right course and then enjoying the ride. Happy traveling!

Start by crystalizing your overall business goals. What's the big picture? Are you aiming for world domination or just trying to carve out a niche? Break down those grand goals into bite-sized, measurable objectives, allowing you to establish concrete, trackable results. Understand your audience's pain points, desires, and where they hang out online. Don't spread yourself too thin. Focus on platforms that align with your brand and goals. Set up key performance indicators (KPIs) to keep tabs on your progress. Whether it's click-through rates, conversion rates, or engagement metrics, tracking KPIs helps you stay on course and tweak your strategy as needed. Continually evaluate the data, deciphering what works, and what needs a tweak.

Online marketing goals and objectives are typically defined by identifying specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) targets. These may include increasing website traffic, enhancing brand awareness, boosting lead generation, improving conversion rates, and maximizing return on investment (ROI). By aligning marketing strategies with these goals, businesses can create targeted campaigns, harness diverse online channels and employ analytics tools to measure success and make data-driven adjustments. The ultimate aim is to establish a strong online presence, engage the target audience effectively, and achieve sustainable growth in the digital landscape.

In my view, your online marketing goals should be completely aligned with your company's overall commercial objectives. In other words, the goals that you set and measure 'marketing success' against should be directly related to, and be leading indicators of progress to commercial objectives. We should be focused on tracking the metrics that matter rather than the numbers that flatter. Intrinsic to this approach is marketing having clear alignment with the sales department and their goals (and vice versa). SMART goals at every stage, but with the achievement of such goals linked to increased demand generation, lead generation, lead conversion to opportunity, and ultimately opportunity to deal wins (or losses).

Per my earlier comments, any marketing objectives must be aligned with overall commercial objectives and be SMART. It is critical to continually monitor progress towards these goals, as this is the only way to ascertain if the campaign activities are delivering value. As part of the 'goals' or 'objectives' I believe it is critical to include the measurement of calls to action that properly indicate engagement and ultimately commercial intent. It's no good simply tracking website visits alone and thinking that "OK, everything is cool as we're getting loads of views" if those visitors are not engaging further. Be clear on the journey you'd like your ideal customer to take and measure the steps associated with that journey.

Look at entire buying journey for your ideal customer and ENABLE them to complete this journey in the most frictionless way. Part of that journey may well involve them spending time on your website (and other platforms including social media). Consider carefully what information they need from you that they can easily share with their colleagues that are part of their buying committee at every stage of their journey and make this information easy to find, understand and share. Tie your marketing analysis to your deal flow and through looking at the data you should be able to determine where bottlenecks occur, deal flow slows up and sales people start to get ghosted. Understanding this will allow you to make changes or improvements.