Steve Trahanas - How to Set And Achieve Marketing Goals

Although marketing is the key to success, it can be difficult to fill in the blanks. You want to grow sales by 30 percent in the next quarter, but what precisely will help you reach that goal? Steve Trahanas, focus on the metrics being measured without paying attention to why and how.

Step One:

What is a Marketing Goal?

The first thing we have to do is figure out what we want our marketing materials to achieve. Some examples of marketing goals include:

Brand Awareness

Sales

Site Traffic

Subscriber List

Social Following

Each of these goals can and should be quantified so that you can measure success. For example, if increased sales is your objective, then 15 percent may be a reasonable target.

Steve Trahanas says the most significant problem with marketing goals is that companies focus solely on the numbers. Unfortunately, that can lead to improper business management, which can adversely impact the customer experience.

Let's say that you want to increase your total sales revenue per month from $1,000 to $1,150. Because you're only focused on the amount, you may decide to raise prices on your most popular items. That move may achieve the result, but then it can cause your customers to seek out an alternative instead.

Thus, it's much better to focus on the how and why and let them drive your goal. Let's break these components down further.

Understanding the Why

Sticking with our sales numbers example, there are two whys that you have to answer. First, why do you need to increase sales by 15 percent? Second, why aren't your sales at that number currently?

The first question matters because it's almost impossible for unchecked growth to continue into infinity. Also, if your profitability is where it should be already, then what's the real objective of making more money?

With the second question, understanding the why can be a little trickier. Some examples could include: stiff competition, decreased demand or lack of brand awareness. Once you identify the why, though, then addressing the problem is much simpler.

Determining the How

Steve Trahanas need to come up with a strategy for how we will achieve our objective.

During this stage, you must see things from the customer's point of view. If there is stiff competition in your industry, what are you doing to set your brand apart? You can start by looking at what competitors are doing to bring in traffic and seeing how you can implement a similar method for your business. You can also look at what your company is doing that the competition isn't so that you can highlight that in your marketing materials.

To put this into perspective, let's say that one of your competitors has faster service, so customers get more convenience. If you can't offer quick service, perhaps you can focus on adding value to the experience. When people are in your store, they feel welcomed and appreciated, while the competition is simply trying to get them out the door as fast as possible.