How to Write Perfect Paid Social Media Marketing Objectives (With Examples)

Having a marketing plan isn’t enough for success. You need strategic marketing objectives to help you set, plan for and achieve your business goals. And you need to have them not just for your overall marketing plan but also for specific portions, such as paid social media marketing.

This guide will offer you a detailed breakdown of what marketing objectives are, what are the best practices for creating effective marketing objectives, and a few examples of what successful marketing objectives look like. 

We have also included tips, tricks, and strategies to make your marketing plan more efficient with tried and tested marketing objectives. 

What Are Marketing Objectives?

Marketing objectives are a set of trackable, measurable, clearly defined goals to help you expand your business. These can include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Profit-based goals: making sales
  • Growth-based goals: increasing subscribers, fans, etc.
  • Awareness-based goals: gaining unique visitors

Such marketing objectives often use a popular method of goal setting known as SMART. SMART stands for:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Timely

You should tailor your SMART goals to your unique situation, but here’s an example to get you restarted on your marketing objectives:

Smart Goal Structure

S – Specific: Visits, Leads, or Customers

Do you want to increase traffic, nurture traffic into leads, or convert leads into customers?

M – Measurable: Provide a Number

Decide on an exact number to measure and increase.

A – Attainable: Understand Benchmark

Research your past analytics to make sure the goal is realistic with your resources.

R – Relevant: Relates Back to Overall End Goal

Make sure each goal relates back to overall end goal.

T – Timely: Include a Time Frame

Pick a date that is realistic to reach your goal.

Why Is It Important to Set Paid Social Marketing Objectives?

When you launch a paid social media marketing campaign, it’s essential to start with solid marketing objectives so you create a strong strategy to meet or exceed your marketing goals. 

For example, if you want to increase your newsletter subscribers, focus on building a robust email sequence and craft marketing content in a way that should convince your audience to hit subscribe. Having this marketing objective clarifies your key goals and can help you build an effective social media marketing strategy. 

If you don’t have any marketing objectives, you may end up wasting time, money, and effort on the wrong marketing campaign (for example, increasing passive visitors instead of engaged subscribers). 

To better direct your resources toward building successful ad campaigns, you need to understand the types of marketing objectives you can set and what they mean for your business. 

10 Types of Paid Social Media Marketing Objectives

Marketing objectives are crucial to clarifying and meeting your business goals. This section is here to help you narrow down your choices and dig deeper into what each type of marketing objective looks like in practice. 

1. Marketing Objectives to Increase Brand Awareness

This is one of the most common types of marketing objectives. No matter how great your business is, if customers don’t know about you, they can’t buy from you. That’s why paid social media marketing objectives aimed at increasing brand awareness often come first, especially for new business owners. 

Like other marketing campaign metrics, these can be customized and measured according to your key business needs. For example, if you’re a new brand looking to increase brand awareness, you need to tailor your social ad campaigns to attract new visitors. 

Here are a few examples of what a brand awareness-based marketing objective could look like:

  • Increase social media visitors by 25 percent.
  • Improve page visits by 50 percent.
  • Increase the number of target demographic visitors by 20 percent.

The metrics to track these marketing objective plans are pretty straightforward. For instance, here is an example of keyword metrics tracked by Ubersuggest.

Your website’s analytics page will offer you all the details about your progress (or decline in growth) so you can adjust your marketing objectives and strategies accordingly. 

If you notice you’re falling short of the goals too frequently, it may be a sign you’re setting unrealistic goals. Try to reduce the number and see what happens. 

2. Marketing Objectives to Increase Repeat Visitors

Attracting new visitors isn’t enough; you must find a way to make them stay (and eventually convert). If you’re at that stage, you can create marketing objective plans to improve on-page retention and increase your number of regular visitors.

Here’s what that goal could look like:

  • Improve click-through rates from existing visitors.
  • Increase social media engagement among regular users. 
  • Reduce bounce rates to retain customers. 

This graphic by CXL explains how to calculate your click-through rates.

Fortunately, most websites today track visitors, making it easy to see if your marketing objective plan is working. If you find a particular metric is hitting the mark, regroup and consider what needs to be fixed. 

3. Marketing Objectives to Increase Subscribers

Once somebody starts visiting your page regularly, that’s a great time to ask them to subscribe to a premium level of whatever you offer. They’re already a free subscriber showing interest in your products, so they may be more likely to subscribe to your paid service than new users who don’t know or care about your business. 

Marketing objectives to increase subscribers could look like:

  • Increase subscribers by 15 percent over the next month. 
  • Reduce unsubscription rates by five percent over the next three months. 

You can track these metrics from your subscription services’ analytics page to see what is working and what needs to change. 

4. Marketing Objectives to Promote a New Product

When you launch a new product or service, you have an opportunity to create a timely and relevant paid social media marketing campaign

If you’ve just launched (or are planning to launch) something new, here are a few marketing objectives you can set:

  • Increase new product landing page visits to 100,000 per day.
  • Boost social media engagement related to the new product by 40 percent. 
  • Sell 25 new units per day through organic traffic. 

Such marketing objectives and strategies are often time-bound and only last for a few weeks or months, but you should track them like you would a long-term campaign to learn what works and what needs to be improved upon for the next time you run a short campaign. 

5. Marketing Objectives to Increase Sales

Now that you’ve launched your new product and successfully promoted it, it’s time to focus on increasing sales. Most companies across several industries think of increasing sales when they discuss marketing. 

Although marketing can serve several purposes, most businesses primarily use paid social media campaigns to boost sales, so this step is quite important. 

If you’re at a stage where you’re prioritizing sales, here are a few examples of marketing objectives aimed at boosting sales:

  • Increase conversion rates by three percent in the next three weeks. 
  • Connect with 25 influencers to increase social media sales.
  • Increase affiliate sales by 12 percent in the next month. 

These marketing objectives can be directly tracked by how many units or subscriptions you sell. We recommend keeping track of your results to know which marketing objectives and strategies work best for you. 

6. Marketing Objectives to Increase Revenue

Even if your sales have increased, it doesn’t mean your revenue necessarily has. If you notice you’re not meeting your revenue goals, it’s time to devise new SMART goals, such as:

  • Increase profit margins by 1.5 percent.
  • Reduce marketing costs by two percent per month. 
  • Bring down customer acquisition cost to $5 per new buyer. 

Here’s an example of how these marketing objectives can be tracked, explained through a graphic by Chorus.ai

7. Marketing Objectives to Optimize the Conversion Funnel

Once you’ve set practical marketing objectives and begun working on your paid social media marketing campaign, you may notice the customers still aren’t converting. Maybe you’re attracting ample visitors, but your repeat customers are low. Perhaps you have a growing number of subscribers, but your customer acquisition cost is too high. 

In these cases, it helps to set marketing objectives to optimize your conversion funnel. Here are a few examples:

  • Identify and fix one weak spot in the conversion funnel per month. 
  • Increase conversion by 15 percent by spending a fixed sum on marketing. 
  • Reduce customer acquisition cost by three percent per month. 

You can track these metrics by closely observing your conversion funnel. Note which step of your funnel is losing visitors and aim to fix that with one of these marketing objectives.

8. Marketing Objectives to Grow Your Digital Presence

Today, 2.14 billion people shop online, making digital marketing essential. If you have a successful brick-and-mortar business and want to expand your digital reach, this marketing objective could be right for you. 

Here are a few helpful examples of what digital reach marketing objectives could look like: 

  • Post four blog posts per month to drive audience engagement.
  • Increase social media followers by 25 percent.
  • Reach 150 new users daily. 

These marketing objectives can be tracked by recording and comparing your social reach

Most social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram offer free analytics to help you understand how your audience interacts with your content. Use this data to adjust your marketing objectives and strategies. 

9. Marketing Objectives to Reach International Audiences

If you’re launching a new product or service that could benefit users abroad, create a marketing objective to reach geo-targeted audiences. Once you’ve defined the demographics you wish to reach, you can set the following marketing objective plans:

Understanding international markets can be tricky, so you may have to experiment with marketing objectives and strategies before finding something that provides the best return on your investment. 

10. Marketing Objectives to Increase On-site Time

Once you have an effective conversion funnel that meets your sales, revenue, and engagement goals, you can look for ways to increase each users’ on-site time. The more time somebody spends on your page, the more they’re likely to come back and buy something from you. 

For this, you can set marketing objectives like: 

  • Reduce bounce rate by 4 percent every month.
  • Increase user reading time up to 30 minutes per visitor.

You can track how long visitors stay on your page through your website’s built-in analytics tool. Measuring your marketing objectives solely through on-site time can be tricky, though, as many people leave their tabs open or are too busy to give their full attention to your page. So, we recommend you don’t focus on this objective too heavily unless you’ve completed all the others we discussed above. 

How to Pick Your Paid Social Marketing Objectives

Now that you understand the 10 essential marketing objectives, it’s time to choose one for your company. 

  1. Consider your business goals

    When selecting a marketing objective, consider your business goals. Ask questions like: Do you need to increase sales, or should you prioritize social engagement?

  2. Get perspective

    Consider the entire team’s perspectives before honing in on one goal. 

  3. Narrow it down

    Narrow your options to the top three choices you can work with. 

  4. Test your goals

    Start with one to see what works and what needs to change. If your goals aren’t supporting your overall growth plans, tweak and try again.

  5. Repeat the process with new objectives

    Setting goals should be an on-going process, not a one-time deal.

Tips to Help You Meet Your Paid Social Marketing Objectives

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your paid social media marketing objectives, make sure you:

  • Periodically check in with your team members to make sure everyone’s on the same page. 
  • Track your progress toward SMART goals to identify problems and possibilities for growth.
  • Include external experts’ suggestions to improve your process.

FAQ about Social Media Marketing Objectives

This guide covered a ton, but you’ve still got questions. Here’s a quick FAQ to help you get started.

Can my business have more than one marketing objective?

How many marketing objectives you set depends on your business goals and planning capacity. Larger businesses with bigger teams may be able to plan and execute multiple marketing objectives and strategies at once. In comparison, newer businesses with smaller teams might perform better by working on one goal at a time. 

Who should set the marketing objectives for a successful social media ad campaign?

When you launch a new social media ad campaign, involve everyone in the decisions about marketing objectives. The leaders and managers should specify the big-picture goals, while the marketing team can dig deeper into the details of how to execute your businesses’ marketing objective plans. 

What are the most important marketing objectives?

Every company prioritizes different goals at different stages of its growth. Creating brand awareness and expanding your digital reach could be solid marketing objectives to aim for if you’re a new business. If you’re an established company, increasing sales and profits may better serve your key business goals. 

What to do if my business isn’t meeting any marketing objectives?

If you notice your company is consistently falling short of your marketing objectives, it’s a sign warning you to change strategies. If you’re significantly behind your goals, it may be better to change your marketing objectives entirely. Track your goal metrics, see where your plan is failing, and set SMART marketing objectives to improve accordingly. 

How often can you change your marketing objectives? 

For your marketing objectives to succeed in accelerating your business growth, they have to be effective and profitable. If you notice you’re spending increasing time and effort trying to meet your goals without seeing great returns, reconsider your marketing objectives and perhaps swap them for new ones. 

Social Media Marketing Objectives Conclusion

Setting SMART marketing objectives can truly change the way you reach your target audience and encourage them to do business with you. 

You need to be especially SMART about your objectives when creating paid social media marketing campaigns, as you’re spending money regardless of how well things go.

Marketing objectives help clarify your message and simplify your goals while making them more effective in the long run. 

Which marketing objective will you choose for your business today?

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Distribution Channels: What They Are, Types, & Examples

Have you defined the distribution channels that will be used by your company?

If not, it’s time.

In short, distribution channels determine the path goods will take from the manufacturer to the final consumer.

Thus, they have direct impact over sales.

There are many types, formats, and levels of distribution channels.

The first step is to understand each of them.

To help you with this task, this page will go over the main things you need to know about distribution channels:

  • what distribution channels are
  • the three types of distribution channels
  • three distribution methods
  • distribution levels
  • the main intermediaries
  • how to define them

What Are Distribution Channels?

What are distribution channels?

Distribution channels are the path products take from their initial manufacturing stage to selling them to consumers. The main goal of these channels is to make goods available to final consumers in sales outlets as soon as possible.

Distribution channels directly impact a company’s sales, so you want to make them as efficient as possible.

The Three Types of Distribution Channels

There are three ways to make sure a product gets to the final consumer.

1. Direct Channels

With direct channels, the company is fully responsible for delivering products to consumers. Goods do not go through intermediaries before reaching their final destination. This model gives manufacturers total control over the distribution channel.

This is the case with people who do catalog sales, for example.

Since the manufacturer alone is responsible for delivering products, this channel generally makes it impossible to have a high number of customers.

At the same time, it’s possible to offer lower prices, since the company does not have to pay commission to intermediaries.

2. Indirect Channels

With indirect channels products are delivered by intermediaries, not by the sellers.

Who are these intermediaries? They could be wholesalers, retailers, distributors, or brokers, for example.

In this case, manufacturers do not have total control over distribution channels.

The benefit is that this makes it possible to sell larger volumes and sell to a range of customers. However, products have higher prices due to the commissions paid to intermediaries.

3. Hybrid Channels

Hybrid channels are a mix of direct and indirect channels.

In this model, the manufacturer has a partnership with intermediaries, but it still takes control when it comes to contact with customers.

One example is brands that promote products online but don’t deliver them directly to customers.

Instead, they nominate authorized distributors.

Three Methods for Distribution Channels

There are three different delivery methods for distribution.

Basically, they concern who will be allowed to sell your products.

1. Exclusive Distribution

With exclusive distribution, intermediaries take the company’s products to specific sales outlets.

This is usually done by a sales representative.

This means that only exclusive retail outlets will be able to sell the items to consumers.

Depending on the quality of the product, this is a great strategy not only for manufacturers but also for the retail outlets or chain stores selected.

2. Selective Distribution

With selective distribution, the company allows sales to a specific group of intermediaries who are responsible for selling items to final customers.

An important factor in how succesful this strategy will be is the reputation of the intermediaries since they have a direct impact over the company’s performance.

In this case, the intermediary becomes the real consultant for consumers, answering questions and recommending appropriate products for their needs.

3. Intensive Distribution

In intensive distribution, the manufacturer tries to place their product in as many sales outlets as possible.

The manufacturers themselves, sales teams, and commercial representatives are all involved in this method. They are responsible for distributing products to sales outlets.

This distribution method is generally used by manufacturers of low-cost products with a high frequency of consumption.

Distribution Channel Levels

Besides the types and methods of distribution channels, they may also operate on different levels.

Their levels represent the distance between the manufacturer and the final consumer.

Level 0 Distribution Channel

In this level, there is a close and direct relationship between the manufacturer and the client.

For the company, the costs of the relationship with the consumer are higher.

Level 1 Distribution Channel

In level 1, the manufacturer sells the products to the distributor, who might sell it to consumers via retailers or wholesalers.

The distributor keeps some of the rights to the product, but not all.

The distributor is also responsible for the costs of sales and transportation to sales outlets.

Level 2 Distribution Channel

Level 2 is similar to level 1.

The difference is that in this case, the distributor delivers products only to retailers, who sell them to consumers.

Level 3 Distribution Channel

Level 3 channels are a traditional distribution model.

The product’s journey from the manufacturer involves distributor, retailer, and customer.

The costs relative to sales and marketing are divided between the parties.

The advantage of this model is that it’s possible to reach a larger number of consumers.

On the other hand, products have a higher price because of the operational costs of all the parties involved.

The Nine Main Intermediaries in Distribution Channels

After finding out more about operation details, it’s time to see who are the main intermediaries who take products to consumers.

1. Retailers

Retailers are intermediaries used frequently by companies.

Examples include supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants, and bars. Each of these types of businesses has full sales rights.

Generally, product prices are higher in retailers.

2. Wholesalers

Wholesalers are intermediaries that buy and resell products to retailers. Wholesalers sell to those who are going to put products in their own stores.

These intermediaries generally don’t sell small quantities to final consumers, though there are exceptions, like supermarkets that sell in the wholesale model.

Prices are lower because sales involve large quantities.

3. Distributors

Distributors sell, store, and offer technical support to retailers and wholesalers. Their operations are focused on specific regions.

4. Agents

Agents are legal entities hired to sell a company’s goods to final consumers and are paid a commission for their sales.

In this case, the relationships between intermediaries and companies are for the long term.

5. Brokers

Brokers are also hired to sell and receive a commission.

The difference between agents and brokers is that brokers have short term relationships with the company.

That’s the case with real estate agents and insurance brokers, for example.

6. The Internet

To those who sell tech and software, the internet itself works as the intermediary of the distribution channel.

The consumer only has to download the material to have access to it.

E-commerce companies also use the internet as a distribution intermediary.

7. Sales Teams

A company can also have its own sales team who are responsible for selling goods or services.

There is also the possibility of creating more than one team to sell to various segments and audiences if the company has a wide range of products.

8. Resellers

Resellers are companies or people who buy from manufacturers or retailers to later sell to consumers in retail.

9. Catalog

Catalog sales, as the name indicates, is when a salesperson is connected to a company and sells its products using a magazine. Salespeople in this model also usually earn a commission for their sales.

This type of sales is common in the beauty segment, with brands like Avon and the Brazilian Natura.

Reverse Distribution Channel

Now you know the types and methods available for products to reach customers. But what happens when consumers need to return items to manufacturers?

Consumers need to rely on reverse distribution if they receive defective products or need to return clothes or shoes they bought online that don’t fit.

In this case, the consumer is responsible for returning the items and needs to find information from the manufacturer about how to do this. Usually, consumers find information about returns on the site for the product.

How to Define Distribution Channels for Your Product

How to define distribution channels for your product

Now you know the different types of distribution channels and intermediaries. But all this is of no use if you don’t know how to select the appropriate channel for your company.

Next up are seven essential tips to help you make this decision.

1. Benchmarking

First, you must look at your competitors to find the best practices they adopt.

This kind of mapping is known as benchmarking.

The idea is to figure out how your competitors are distributing their products and adopt a similar model.

2. Project Review

So you have mapped out best practices in the market and identified solutions that could work for your business.

Great.

The next step is to review the project/channel you created.

Check if there are errors and how processes may be optimized and adapt the project to the needs and characteristics of the type of sales you make.

3. Costs and Benefits

When we talk about distribution channels, one important factor is the cost associated with them.

Always look for the best cost-benefit ratio.

To do this, it is not enough to have a vague idea of the costs. You must record all costs and analyze if the benefits of the channel you selected are worth it.

4. Company’s Daily Routine

Another relevant factor is the business’ routine.

What are the projects, processes, and activities in your business?

The distribution channel must be aligned with all these details.

Otherwise, you might have logistics problems that result in product delays that damage your relationship with customers.

5. Market Potential

Before selecting a channel, you should also consider the market potential of intermediaries.

After all, unless you choose to use direct channels, they will also be responsible for sales results.

Analyze intermediaries’ market participation, reputation, and performance to only then try to select the most appropriate option.

6. Logistics

Consider logistical questions like:

  • How will products be transported?
  • Is there security for when the products are in transit and/or where they are stored?
  • Where will goods be stored?
  • What will be the delivery time, on average?

Considering all stages of logistics is crucial to avoid problems taking goods to sales outlets.

7. Location

Finally, consider the location of intermediaries, whether they are resellers, retailers, wholesalers, or distributors.

After all, your product must be sold in the region where your target audience is, especially if you supply a specific niche of the market.

Managing Distribution Channels

How should you manage your company’s distribution channels? This is usually the responsibility of marketing departments.

To do it, it’s essential to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs).

Carry out regular assessments of reports with metrics and indicators related to distribution processes.

Monitor sales indicators, for example, analyzing the performance of each channel the company uses.

Also, carry out satisfaction surveys with consumers, especially when customers are dissatisfied with the selection and availability of goods or when sales volume is below expectations.

Examples of Distribution Channels

Examples of distribution channels

Before concluding this reading, how about we get to know two examples from great companies?

Coca-Cola’s Distribution Channels

The largest soft drink manufacturer in the world uses different sales channels with franchisers, distributors, and retailers.

For example, soft drinks get to different retailers thanks to distributors.

This includes bars, restaurants, and supermarkets, who sell directly to final consumers.

Natura’s Distribution Channels

Cosmetics brand Natura basically uses catalog distribution, though today there are sales outlets as well.

The company has a network of consultants that sell to consumers using magazines showing the products.

Distribution Channels Conclusion

Are you ready to define and manage distribution channels for your company?

Follow the steps I mentioned in this article, from benchmarking to sales outlet analysis.

Consider the cost-benefit ratio of each channel.

And regardless of your choice, always monitor indicators and metrics.

This analysis makes it possible to check the efficiency of the distribution channel so you can optimize it constantly.

Did you like the tips in this article?

Leave a comment with your opinion or any questions you may have.

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