Lets Talk About Goals (Yes, Again)

You need them. Everybody does. As humans, as creatives, as professionals. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do - marketing goals prevent stagnation, promote growth, and inspire confidence. Goals will make you successful. The numbers speak for themselves. According to one CoSchedule study, marketers who set goals are 376% more likely to report success than their less ambitious counterparts.

Setting marketing goals is the first step in constructing an effective strategy. When these two things are combined, they’re unstoppable. Marketers are 313% more successful when they have defined goals and documented strategies - which is hard to ignore. Roger West has written ad nauseum about the importance of strategizing and planning - but goal setting is an art in itself, and it’s time to start painting the future. 

By now, you know what SMART goals are. You’ve done the SWOT analysis. You’ve identified your KPIs. You’re a seasoned marketer, and you’re looking for something more. You’re in luck. It’s time to learn another acronym. It’s time to embrace the OKR strategy. 

Objectives and Key Results 

OKRs aren’t new. They’ve been making their way through corporations big and small since the 70s, and have been going through a bit of a renaissance thanks to John Doerr’s 2018 TED Talk on the subject. 

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are used for actionable goal setting within organizations and connect teams through personal and professional goals with unified, measurable results. There are three key components to a successful set of OKRs:

1. Each member of the team needs to understand the ultimate goal and their role in making it come to fruition
2. A list 3-5 ambitious objectives with 3-5 quantifiable key results
3. Flexibility and awareness that organization focus, direction, and goals are always subject to change

The trick to OKRs is to avoid falling into the trap of overthinking. 

Set Up Your OKRs Step by Step

Step 1:

Find your objective. 

Something like: 

• Increase brand awareness
• Increase conversions by 20% before the end of Q1
• Reduce cost per clicks by 25%
• Increase profitability by 10%

Where do you want to go? 

Step 2:

Identify your key results. 

How will you know if you’re on track to meet your objective? 

Refer back to KPIs and look for actions that will help fulfill your objectives. 

Step 3:

Put it together. 

O:

• Increase brand awareness

KR:

• Write 3 more content-rich articles per month
• Get 5 media pickups by end of Q1
• Increase social media engagement by 25%

Step 4:

Git ‘er done!

Are you ready to meet the goals that you’ve set? Roger West can help you achieve even the loftiest of marketing aspirations.
Let’s talk.