The objective is the starting point of the marketing plan. Once environmental analyses and marketing audit have been conducted, their results will inform objectives. Objectives should seek to answer the question “Where do we want to go?” The purposes of objectives include:
- To enable a company to control its marketing plan.
- To help to motivate individuals and teams to reach a common goal.
- To provide an agreed, consistent focus for all functions of an organization.
All objectives should be SMART i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed.
- Specific – Be precise about what you are going to achieve
- Measurable – Quantify you objectives
- Achievable – Are you attempting too much?
- Realistic – Do you have the resource to make the objectives happen (men, money, machines, materials, minutes?)
- Timed – State when you will achieve the objectives (within a month? By February 2010?)
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