Establishing Digital Marketing Goals and Coordinating KPIs

Establishing digital marketing goals and coordinating key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial for ensuring the effectiveness and success of your digital marketing efforts. Keep reading for a step-by-step guide to help you set goals and align KPIs accordingly.

Step 1: Define Your Business Goals/Objectives

Identify the overarching goals and objectives of your business. What’s going to help take you to the next level? If you could accomplish just four things in the year ahead, what would they be? 

Examples:

• Increase sales
• Improve brand awareness
• Drive website traffic
• Generate leads
• Increase calls

Step 2: Align Digital Marketing Goals

Based on your business objectives, establish specific digital marketing goals that contribute to achieving those objectives. 

For example:

• Increase website traffic by X%
• Generate X number of leads per month
• Increase online sales by X%
• Improve brand engagement on social media platforms

Step 3: Make Goals SMART

Ensure that your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART). This makes it clearer and easier to track progress. 

Here are a few examples that align with SMART:

• Specific: Increase website traffic by X%.
• Measurable: Increase website traffic from 10,000 to 15,000 visitors per month.
• Achievable: Based on historical data and available resources.
• Relevant: Aligned with overall business objectives.
• Time-bound: Achieve this within the next six months.

Step 4: Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Determine the KPIs that will indicate progress toward your digital marketing goals. KPIs should directly reflect the performance of your digital marketing efforts. 

Examples include:

• Website Traffic: Number of visitors, page views, bounce rate.
• Leads: Conversion rate, lead quality, cost per lead.
• Sales: Revenue, conversion rate, average order value.
• Brand Engagement: Likes, shares, comments, followers.

Step 5: Set Targets for KPIs

Establish specific targets or benchmarks for each KPI based on historical data, industry standards, and the goals you’ve set. These targets will serve as indicators of success and help you gauge the effectiveness of your strategies.

Struggling to set realistic targets? A quick Google search should help you find relevant industry benchmarks. For example, the average cost-per-click (CPC) in the personal services industry is $3.90 compared to an average CPC of $1.55 in the real estate industry.

Step 6: Implement Tracking and Analytics

Utilize digital marketing tools such as Google Analytics, social media analytics platforms, CRM systems, etc. to track and measure the performance of your KPIs accurately. Set up tracking mechanisms to monitor progress regularly.

Step 7: Monitor, Analyze, and Optimize

1. Regularly monitor the performance of your digital marketing campaigns against the established KPIs. 
2. Analyze the data to identify trends, strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. 
3. Use these insights to optimize your strategies and tactics continuously.

Step 8: Adjust Goals and KPIs as Needed

As your business evolves and market conditions change, be prepared to revisit and adjust your digital marketing goals and KPIs accordingly. Flexibility and adaptability are key to staying competitive in the digital landscape.

By following these steps, you can effectively establish digital marketing goals and coordinate KPIs to drive measurable results and contribute to the overall success of your business.