Menu
First of all, let’s make a point that is true in any sense you want to think about it.
And that is the fact that defining objectives makes our actions and efforts go towards what we want to achieve.
Now, the importance of objectives in companies comes precisely from the need to have a clear direction and strategy, both on the part of the people who are at the top and each of the employees.
When a company wants to achieve success in its work, it must have established its objectives before walking towards its goals, since these are the ones that will give it the course to follow and will serve as a source of motivation and commitment for all the members of the company.
Even if you want to have a new purpose every year, the key to achieving them is to transform them into well-defined objectives.
That is, they must be measurable, achievable, challenging, time-bound, specific and always positive.
An action plan cannot be drawn up without first having established a company’s objectives.
Since this is the one that is in charge of helping us to detail the step by step of the actions that we will have to commit in order to make our goals an achievement.
The reason why a company must have objectives then is reduced to the fact that these are the ones that provide the security, motivation and organization necessary for the company to reach its maximum level of success, without losing at any time the course that must be followed for it.
If you ask anyone who knows what SMART objectives are, they will tell you that they are specific, measurable, completely achievable, highly relevant, and that they are also temporary, so it is not something that will last forever or that will always remain a long distance goal.
These should be considered as those concrete goals that provide the possibility of analyzing the performance that our efforts have had, regardless of whether it is within marketing or any area of a company that needs to order and measure their work in a systematic and effective way.
Now, you may be wondering why they are called SMART objectives, and this comes from an acronym that refers to everything that is considered that a good goal should have.
Below, we’ll break it down for you in both English, the original language, and its translation into Spanish.
It means that it is limited to a specific aspect, task or action of a company.
It tells us that it must have a specific goal, otherwise it would not be possible to interpret whether the results are within expectations.
Refers to an objective that is perfectly achievable under the conditions available.
When we speak of a relevant goal, we are referring to one that is in line with the general objectives of the business. There is no sense in considering actions with results that will not subsidize these objectives of the company in its development plan.
It means that they are limited to a certain time. All the characteristics mentioned above will depend on the time in which it is supposed to be completed. Time may cause an objective to be unachievable.
The examples of SMART objectives at work that we will give you will be approached as if it were one that the company has set and we will analyze it from the perspective of an employee who, with what he/she reads, should know the action plan to follow to reach the goal.
Obtain 20% more subscribers to our newsletter per month, during the next 5 months, in order to go from 1,000 to 2,000 subscribers by creating quality content that attracts more traffic.
In this sense, it can be seen that the company’s intention is to increase its followers in a period of 5 months, to do so the company will be dedicated to creating quality content that attracts more visitors.
If this were read by an employee, he would already know what he has to do and the goal to be achieved in the time required.
Increase sales of our toothbrush by 20% over the next 3 months by improving our advertising campaign so that we can reach a greater number of potential customers.
In this case what is wanted in the job is the increase of sales of a certain product in a specific time frame, improving the techniques that already made them achieve the previous objective.
Again, if a worker were to read this objective, he/she would be aware of everything that is needed to achieve the stated objective.
Grow the marketing team by 10% (taking it from 100 to 110 employees) by the end of the first quarter of next year, hiring a total of 3 employees every 3 months until the content creation team is complete.
This is perhaps one of the most specific examples of SMART objectives for leaders that we can give you, since it states that the main idea is to grow the marketing team and want to do it by the end of the first quarter of next year.
In addition, it highlights more information such as the fact that the action plan to achieve the objective is to hire 3 employees at a time until the indicated time period is met.
Create 10 strategic alliances in the next biennium through the organization of forums, in order to gain much more brand exposure and improve the supplier network.
In this case, the leader intends to create a total of 10 alliances over a two-year period using as a tool the organization of forums that will allow the brand to be exposed to a network of potential suppliers willing to form a pact.
Increase my brand's community on Instagram by 50% (a total of 6,000 more followers) in one year, with the implementation of the Social Media Plan and periodic campaigns to reach a wider target and improve online reputation.
In this case we can notice that the leader, or entrepreneur, intends to increase his followers on Instagram, he sets a deadline of one year, and he will do it with the mentioned tools. Apart from that he mentions that his intention is to reach a higher target while improving his online reputation.
Increase visits to our website by 50% (from 1,000 to 1,500) in the next 30 days, by doubling the distribution of our content in order to prepare for the launch of our new product.
This serves as a perfect example of SMART objectives for companies in the fact that we see that they not only have the idea of increasing visits, but they also stipulate a time frame for it, they also point out what strategy they will follow and why it is being done.
Increase our sales by 20% (from $200,000 to $240,000) in the next 12 months by offering our new products to existing customers.
As can be seen in this case, the company wants to increase 20% of its sales, specifying the new amount to be achieved, and the time frame in which this should be done. The action plan is clear enough, since what they will have to do is to promote these new products to their existing customer base to ensure an extra profit without a very high investment.
Increase the number of qualified leads from 300 to 3,000 in a 6-month period by creating 5 new content offers.
In this case we can see that the organization’s desire is to increase the number of qualified leads and they plan to achieve this in a period of 6 months. To do so, they will try to create 5 new content offers.
This lets the people in charge of the process know what they need to do to make it happen, and in this way they will not stray from the path to the goal.
