Marketing By Objectives – The Next Evolution

Marketing By Objectives – The Next Evolution

Marketing By Objectives is the phrase we use to describe a Marketing program that is driven by accountability to a finite set of goals and objectives that advance the overall corporate strategy in a meaningful way.

Let’s break that down a bit. Accountability means identifying desired outcomes, setting specific achievable targets, tracking performance against relevant metrics, and honestly evaluating the relative success.

Without this degree of specificity, any program will lack the essential ingredient of accountability. It won’t be replicable, and worse, corporate decision-makers won’t trust the outcome.

Each Marketing program’s goals and objectives should be derived from those of the corporation as a whole, in a Marketing context. For each broad goal, such as Revenue, there are many possible sub-goals, such as customer acquisition or retention, that may contribute to success. The Marketer must identify those that are important to the mission, and set the program sights accordingly.

Each goal must of course have an objective set of measures that can be used for evaluation. The measures should have a degree of consistency over time, in order to evaluate whether you’re doing “better” or “worse” than before. But don’t remain wedded to outdated goals.

Identifying the measures you will use beforehand not only saves time and trouble later, it can help the entire Marketing team to focus on desired outcomes.

In addition, those outside the Marketing department will more easily recognize whether their initiatives could help – or may indeed hinder – what you’re trying to accomplish.

The result is a more productive, integrated team effort that recognizes the value and contributions of your programs – Marketing By Objectives.