Before we jump into a discussion about marketing objectives (examples included, just for you 🙂 ), I want to talk about a word you probably don’t often associate with marketing:
Triage.
Imagine, if you will, a scene. Stick with me here: I promise this is relevant.
You walk into a hospital with a broken leg (ok, so maybe you’re carried in…). You’re screaming, your significant other is screaming, your kids are screaming, but the receptionist remains calm. You shriek that your leg is broken and you need help immediately.
And this son of a ***** tells you to take a seat.
So you do, but you’re mad: you’re in pain, the worst pain you’ve ever felt (compound fracture, you see).
This seems like, to you, an incredible emergency.
To be fair, it is…
If you’re the only person in the hospital.
But you’re not.
What you don’t know is that, 2 minutes before you walked in, 3 people having heart attacks got wheeled in on gurneys.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] This seems like, to you, an incredible emergency. [/perfectpullquote]
And a few minutes before that, a stroke victim and a gunshot victim were brought in, almost simultaneously.
As far as the receptionist, the nurses, and the doctors are concerned, your little ole’ broken leg is at the bottom of the list.
Your problem is still a problem. It still has to be addressed.
It’s just not the most urgent problem.
We Call This Triage: And Your Marketing Objectives Should Be Approached in Exactly the Same Manner
Here’s a more concrete definition of the word Triage:
1. Triage: The assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illnesses to decide the order of treatment of a large number of patients or casualties.
[quoteability]2. Triage: The process of determining the most important people or things from amongst a large number that require attention:[/quoteability]
(Definition source: oxforddictionaries.com)
It’s that second one that we’re most interested in:
“A large number that require attention.”
Because they all require attention—just not all right now.
Like a hospital that has too many sick people and not enough staff, your business has (effectively) an infinite number of marketing objectives that need attention.
And a finite number of you to take care of them.
These objectives are connected to goals or problems, some of which are more urgent to reach or fix than others.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] They all require attention—just not all right now. [/perfectpullquote]
Taken as a whole, they can seem overwhelming, and even worse, unlike in the medical world, these objectives are literally never complete.
In a hospital, if a guy comes in with a broken leg, they fix the leg, and off he goes.
They might never see him again.
It’s very different when it comes to your business.
Reaching several marketing objectives (examples: increasing sales 10% and reaching 15% more people with Facebook advertising than you did the year before) doesn’t mean you’re done—it means you have to set new marketing objectives, objectives even higher than your previous objectives.
And you have to decide which marketing objectives are most important which are least important.
Marketing Objectives Should Be Tied Directly to Business Growth
Because businesses depend on growth.
And a business that doesn’t grow is a failed business.
[quoteability]So sometimes growth isn’t happening somewhere, which means you have a problem.[/quoteability]
Other times, growth needs to be accelerated, which means you have a goal.
So, how do you sift through the unlimited number of fires that seem to be burning around your business at all times, decide which problems are most important (the solving of which will help you reach a goal)?
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Businesses depend on growth. [/perfectpullquote]
How do you decide if a problem really isn’t that big of a problem, that reaching another goal, one not connected to any real problem other than less-than-ideal growth, is more important than dealing with the problem that seems so overwhelming in the moment?
How do you triage your marketing objectives, your problems, and your goals, and decide which need work now and which can be looked at 1 month/3 months/6 months/1 year down the road?
You Start With Goals
- Decide on two or three of your business’ most important goals
- Think about how marketing can help you meet those goals
- Look at your current marketing (where it’s succeeding, where it’s not)
- Triage
- Decide which (if any) of your current marketing efforts need more attention/money
- Decided which (if any) of your current marketing efforts need less attention/money (or none at all)
- Decide what marketing isn’t happening that should be happening
- Pick a few marketing objectives that best help you meet those goals
- Focus your time and energy on the marketing objectives that will most quickly and most effectively help you meet your goals (while spending the least amount of money).
Showing is better than telling—let me show you with a few examples.
Marketing Objectives: Examples of Triage With a Real Business That I Totally Didn’t Just Make Up
(Ok, maybe I made the business up, but this example is based on real examples of real objectives for real businesses).
Exhibit A: Transcontinental Transportation Company
Transcontinental Transportation Company (TTC for short) has been running strong for over 40 years. They’ve recently developed a new product that isn’t performing as expected, but the service-side of their business is running just fine, thank you very much (though it could always use some added growth).
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Marketing Triage: The process of determining the most important goals, problems, and marketing objectives from amongst a large number that require attention.[/perfectpullquote]
They’ve also recently entered a new market in another country, and they’re eager to show their investors (and the world) that this was a good move on their part.
However, they have some problems:
- Their brand is only vaguely known in their new market (fortunately, the only real competitor is viewed negatively and is an absolute mess to do any sort of business with (oh, and they have no website))
- Though the service side of their business is massive, it’s all still being handled through emails and phone calls, requiring absurd amounts of human-power
- Their new product is selling strongly in stores, but they have yet to offer the product online, mostly because of another major problem:
- Their website has recently been hacked (it was old AF anyway), and it has probably breathed its last breath
- Their branding hasn’t been updated since the 1990s (yikes)
- Their fleet is aging and will probably have to be replaced in the next 10 years.
They also have some goals:
- Obtain at least 30% market share in the next 5 years in the new market
- Increase sales of their new product by 50% (or scrap it for good) over the next 2 years
- Reduce overhead by 60% and increase sales by 6% for the service side of the business over the next 2 years (I know, the first goal is a doozy, but they think they can do it with automation)
- Reach a new potentially lucrative customer base (those pesky millennials) who are really coming into their own in the trucking industry—hire some, sell their new product or their service to the rest
- Replace their fleet
Marketing Objectives: Examples of Triage in Action
Which of these goals matters most? Which of these problems are most urgent?
And just as importantly, which cannot be addressed through marketing?
Let’s start with the obvious:
1. The fleet issue is not something marketing can address
And frankly, the fleet is probably good for at least 5 more years (as long as maintenance is on point).
This is not a top priority.
2. The branding issue and the goal of reaching millennials seem to be intertwined; but, in fact, they aren’t
The assumption that millennials will only be interested in a shiny new brand is a false one.
However, they will be turned off by the service side of the business not being simple and easy to use (especially if it’s all done over the phone).
They’re interested in substance, so they’ll be interested in an established company that can offer them reasonable pay and benefits, not a new fancy company that doesn’t offer them crap.
That info simply needs to be communicated to them—some advertising, online and offline, might do the trick.
They love the product in stores, but they want to buy it online.
It looks like the goal of reaching millennials can be best accomplished by a) leaving the branding alone, b) updating the website, c) creating some advertising specifically for them, and d) updating the service side of the business to be more automated (if not fully automated).
So branding gets tossed to the bottom of the heap with the fleet issue, but we also see that:
3. Automating the service side of the business will help reach the overhead goal AND help reach millennials AND help reach their market share goals
So that needs to go near the top (if not right at the top).
It will also make reaching that market share goal more realistic because automation will put them above their competitors.
However, there’s something else that looks just as important.
4. Getting a new website is even more important for their market share goals in the new market (AND their goal of reaching millennials AND their goal of selling more of the new product)
The website sets them apart from their only real competition in the new market (given that the competition doesn’t even have one—WTF guys it’s 2017).
The website is something millennials will expect, whether they’re looking for jobs, learning about the new product, or signing up for a service.
Automation likely requires the website to really work properly.
Any online advertising (for both millennials and the new market) would have to point back to a website anyway.
And honestly, dude, you just have to have a website these days.
So Our New Marketing Objectives Look Something Like This (by Order of Importance)
- Get a new website that supports automation and ecommerce
- Automate the service side of the business as much as possible
- Begin selling the new product and the old services through the website
- Begin online and offline advertising to millennials and to several target audiences in the new market
- Revisit the branding and fleet issue in 3 years
And at this point, it might be time to get that new product into stores in the new market (they really wanted to start with the service side first, but hey, why not go full throttle).
The branding and fleet issue just don’t take precedence—they can be tabled for now.
Obviously this is a bit unrealistic: My fake company that I totally didn’t make up is really a hodgepodge of several different companies, and these goals and problems are, for sure, simplistic.
But they illustrate the point—and they give you a clear idea of how to manage your marketing objectives (examples of which you can now wrap your brain around, even though they’re a bit simplified).
Marketing Objectives Depend on Goals, and Goals Depend on You
Ultimately, your business depends on you.
You have to set the goals, you have to determine what’s realistic and what’s not (and yeah, some of those goals up there are really over the top), and you can only do that by crunching the numbers, looking at your data, thinking about your target audiences, and deciding what’s best for everyone.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Begin with goals.[/perfectpullquote]
If you begin with goals, if you look at what you’re doing marketing-and-growth-wise (and where you’re headed), if you think about how your branding and marketing can best help you achieve those goals, if you create a strategy based around those goals, one grounded in intelligent branding and considered analyses of your audiences, the markets, where you stand, and where you want to go, well…
Then you can’t help but win.
Oh, Did I Mention We Have a Marketing Ebook That Helps You Do All That?
Because we have a marketing ebook that helps you do all that 😀 .
It’s called Analyze Your Marketing, and it walks you, step by step, through the entire process of analyzing your marketing, setting goals, and creating a marketing strategy.
Click the button to learn more about it.
