{"id":26535,"date":"2022-12-29T18:52:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T18:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/29\/how-to-set-content-marketing-goals-for-growth\/"},"modified":"2022-12-29T18:52:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T18:52:56","slug":"how-to-set-content-marketing-goals-for-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/29\/how-to-set-content-marketing-goals-for-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Set Content Marketing Goals for Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Goal setting is an act of balance.<\/p>\n

If you go too small, you\u2019ll quickly surpass your goal and not push yourself to your potential.<\/p>\n

Too large, and you\u2019ll never make it, and the failure will sting \u2014 even if the original goal was unrealistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For content marketing<\/span><\/a>, the task is even more complex. You\u2019re setting goals that depend on metrics that can be especially hard to predict. Organic traffic? Conversion rate? Lead quality? Each comes with countless variables that can complicate your goal setting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teams often think that if they just create high quality content, new customers will come streaming through the virtual door. But it\u2019s not that simple. To build your brand and fill your sales funnel at the same time, you need to set the right goals. And let me reiterate that \u2014 the goal of content marketing is to increase sales<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not sure how to set goals for your content marketing, use this as your guide.<\/p>\n

Below, I\u2019ll cover:<\/p>\n

How to set the right content marketing goals<\/h2>\n

I recommend goal setting in 90-day increments (in other words, once per quarter). That\u2019s enough time to get a lot done, but not so much that you feel locked into a failed experiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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When I work with clients, we develop a plan each quarter that\u2019s just the right balance of ambitious and realistic. To do so, I always use this general rule: Push 10% beyond what you believe your current capabilities are.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This keeps you growing and striving \u2014 but prevents you from feeling discouraged by falling short.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When setting goals, we always recommended starting with the SMART framework:<\/p>\n

Make sure your goal is:<\/p>\n

(S) Specific<\/p>\n

(M) Measurable<\/p>\n

(A) Attainable<\/p>\n

(R) Realistic\u00a0<\/p>\n

(T) Time-based<\/p>\n

All too often, content marketing goals are filled with vague generalities about thought leadership, brand identity, and buyer personas. Stop me if you\u2019ve heard something like this before: \u201cLeadership development is a $366 billion industry. Our goal is to increase awareness with our target leadership development audience and earn more market share.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with these things is they are hard to measure. SMART goals let you begin with a better understanding of what success will look like. This way, you can be sure your content marketing team is providing real value to your company. With the right goals in place, you can connect your efforts to actual revenue generated.<\/p>\n

Make sure to use historical data to inform your current goals<\/h3>\n

Remember, business growth doesn\u2019t happen in a vacuum. Study past results to have a clear idea of what your future will look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Are you a retail business that does best leading into the holidays? Plan your Q2 goals accordingly. Are you a landscaping business that makes 80% of its revenue in the summer? If so, don\u2019t count on your traffic to buck the trend this winter.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind your historical data about trends in keyword volume, website traffic, qualified leads, and new customers<\/span>. Also, make sure to account for seasonality if the popularity of your products or services have a correlation with certain times of the year.<\/p>\n

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So with that, let\u2019s dive into some specifics about setting goals for your content marketing strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How to set content marketing goals for growth<\/h2>\n

Content marketing goals<\/span><\/a> will look different from one company to the next, but the process, I\u2019ve found, should be pretty much the same. When my clients ask about goal setting, these are the core questions they have \u2014 as well as how I answer them.<\/p>\n

‘Who should set the goals?’\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Goal setting should fall to the marketing leader, whether that\u2019s a VP of marketing, CMO, or other such figure. But this person shouldn\u2019t make up the goals out of nowhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The marketing leader should work with members of the revenue team (that is, key representatives from sales and marketing) to get input. One of the key benefits of assembling a revenue team is that it increases your marketing team\u2019s awareness of sales forecasts, sales pipelines, and what content your sales team could use to close deals. It\u2019s critical that your content marketing plans (and goals that support those plans) are in stride with your sales team.<\/p>\n

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Then, the marketing leader should assign a goal\/priority owner for each facet of your plan. This could be the CMO, sales manager, or another team member. For example, the CMO might set a goal of producing a certain number of videos in the next 90 days. But the owner should be the videographer. It\u2019s critical to mention this \u2014 the marketing leader, while not directly responsible for doing all the work, is absolutely responsible for making sure the work gets done and that their team is best equipped to hit their goals.<\/p>\n

‘How often should we set content marketing goals?’\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I teach my clients to plan in 90-day segments. But that doesn\u2019t mean they wait an entire quarter to check how they\u2019re doing. They track progress every week, monitoring KPIs (key performance indicators) and noting trends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘What KPIs should we watch?’\u00a0<\/h3>\n

We advise our clients to avoid putting too much stock in the king of traditional content marketing KPIs: organic traffic. Instead, we focus our goal setting on creating content that will resonate with their target audience:<\/p>\n