How to Apply SMART Goals to Content Marketing
Your company has decided that it’s time to begin implementing a consistent content marketing strategy. You have brought in a content creation specialist. You have created a content calendar. You have even determined the types of content you will use to convey specific messages to specific audiences. But have you considered SMART goals? They could make the difference.
SMART is an increasingly popular framework for establishing and reaching goals in a business environment. Each letter in the SMART acronym represents one of the framework’s key components. One of the most impressive things about the framework is that it can be applied nearly universally across business.
1. Specificity
The first component of the SMART framework is specificity. Every goal you have for a given content marketing campaign should be specific. It should be clear and unambiguous. There should be no room for different people interpreting the goal in different ways. Specific goals lead to specific actions, and specific actions lead to measurable results. That leads directly to the second component.
2. Measurable Metrics
Whether you call them metrics, KPIs, or something else entirely, a successful content marketing campaign needs data points that can be measured to determine success and failure. You need to be able to track each piece of content and its performance. You need to be able to track campaign progress.
It is also important to establish benchmarks at the start of every new campaign. Benchmarks give you a means of comparison. Without them, it’s nearly impossible to determine how well your content marketing strategies are working.
3. Achievable Goals
Next up, the SMART framework dictates setting achievable goals. Every piece of content you develop should be related to a specific goal. But equally important is that the goal be achievable. If you expect too much from your content, you will always be disappointed. But if you set achievable goals, your content marketing results should be generally positive.
On this particular point, the content marketers at Salt Lake City’s Webtek Digital Marketing point out that achievable goals should also be realistic. The difference is subtle, but it exists. For instance, your company could achieve a goal of increasing website traffic by 50%. But is that goal realistic in light of your content marketing budget? It might not be if the price tag for such a large traffic boost is prohibitive.
4. Relevant Content
Relevance is the next component in the SMART framework. This is a big one for content marketing. If you don’t know why, spend some time searching for information about how Google views content relevance. You will discover that they place a premium on it.
Relevant content is relevant in two ways. First, it is relevant to the searches Google users are running. Second, it is relevant to the users themselves. The content explains something to them. It answers a question or provides a step-by-step process for getting something done. All content should be relevant by the way, not just what is produced for marketing purposes.
5. Time-Bound
Rounding out the SMART framework are time-bound objectives. When we apply this to content marketing, it is a matter of setting deadlines and sticking with them. Binding content creation to deadlines and schedules achieves greater consistency across individual campaigns as well as an organization’s entire marketing landscape. You can never go wrong with consistency.
Before you launch your first content marketing campaign, take a good look at the SMART framework. Companies like Webtek utilize it because it works. The SMART framework can make an enormous difference in the success of a content marketing strategy. Go ahead and try it.
