If you’re going to market at all on the Internet, you need a content plan. You can understand what a content plan is by breaking down the term into its two parts: “content,” and “plan.”
The word “content” pertains to what you publish online that represents your brand. Meanwhile, “plan” refers to the strategy you follow for how to do that.
SMART Goals Are Critical For Effective Marketing
A skilled strategist approaches Internet marketing in SMART goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based.
Here’s an example Internet marketing SMART goal for a company:
“Achieve 5,000 followers on Facebook by November 30th, 2020.”
When you set a SMART goal, you can measure the performance of a campaign. The needs for success become real, as well as the means for achieving it.
“What’s measured, improves.”
-Peter F. Drucker (father of the modern corporation)
The Pros & Cons Of SMART Goals In Internet Marketing
Think of a SMART goal as a mathematical problem. Being able to express the problem in an explicit manner helps to solve it. The process of solving the problem is where strategy comes in.
“A problem well-stated is half-solved.”
–Charles Kettering (Inventor, Head of Research at General Motors)
Solving the example SMART goal above reframes what content your brand should publish. One begins to think of the highest performing kind of content on Facebook.
What works best for Facebook is different than other social media channels. But without having expressed the goal in this way, you could say this: Gain 5,000 followers.
The approach
In the former, you might have 3,000 on Facebook, but 2,000 on Instagram. This would often imply that you published different kinds of content. Not in every case, but in many. You may be publishing content in a haphazard fashion. Relying on luck for something to go viral.
Whereas, having a specific goal for one channel makes it far easier to reach success. This is because you can triple-down on one specific kind of content that you can deliver best.
You can achieve equal success in all channels, but you should treat each as separate. This is because many tend to choose different channels depending on their personality. Their attention-spans, cognitive abilities, and lifestyle is also another huge factor. Not everyone is the same.
SMART Goals Are Critical For Accountability
You may find yourself shocked to find out that most marketers on the Internet don’t use SMART goals.
According to statistics published by Curata, a whopping 70% of marketers online lack a consistent or integrated marketing strategy
Meanwhile, 44% of organizations report that they don’t use any at all. And 10% said that they weren’t even sure if they had one.
This is terrible for the industry, which explains why it’s filled with buzzwords. The truth is, the majority of marketers online don’t know what they’re doing. They can’t explain what they’re doing or should do in simple words to their clients. This is because most don’t understand their profession themselves.
This means that the majority of marketers online are incompetent. Either
Internet marketing is one of the toughest industries of intellectualism in the world. It’s a job for strategic creatives. Yet, creativity has always been hard to measure. Thus, most marketers fear the accountability that comes with goal-setting. To set a specific goal is to draw a line in the sand. It’s to give form to what’s easy to keep formless. And with the accountability that comes with form, most marketers know that they’d end up fired
Therein, setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based goals are imperative for your business’s success.
Having a product or service is one thing; marketing it is another. Learn how to drive the sales you want through building your brand by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as our YouTube Channel.
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