how to write a SMART objective?

If you are planning your marketing strategy, the first step you will have to take is to set the objectives you want to achieve, more specifically, it will be effective to define SMART objectives. You have to learn how to define them correctly, otherwise you will not be able to achieve them and the strategy will become ineffective.

what are SMART objectives?

The first time the term SMART was used was in 1981 thanks to George T. Doran, SMART, which in English means smart or intelligent, is a methodology that allows us to remember the elements that are indispensable when drafting objectives.

This model is divided by each letter of its acronym, each one representing an aspect that is essential when writing.

• Specific: You have to be very clear when setting objectives, so it will be much easier for you and your team to understand exactly where you want to get to, these should be as consistent as possible with your business area. It is not enough, for example, to define that you want to get X number of followers, you have to set how long, in what specific social network, etc.

In order to achieve this, we must answer these questions as concretely as possible:

-What: The most important as it implies knowing what we want to achieve with this objective

-What: In this question we must answer those obstacles that may prevent us from achieving our objective.

-Who: We must be very clear about who is the person responsible for achieving this objective, whether it is a third party, a teammate, or ourselves.

-Where: This question is simply answered if the place is relevant to achieving the objective.

• Measurable: Every objective must be measurable to be able to be improved, if your objectives are linked to a numerical value, it will be much easier to understand if you are managing to reach them, for this we use KPIs, which serve to measure the efficiency of the objectives that we have previously set.
  
  
• Achievable: We have to set realistic objectives, we have to be very clear about where we can reach with our strategy and where not, setting objectives that are unattainable for us will not make us more motivated to achieve them, but quite the opposite. By setting an unattainable objective, what we achieve is to demotivate us when trying to achieve it, because we will never get it. If we have a new small business and we open a new account on instagram, we can not set ourselves the goal of reaching 10,000 followers in two days, because it would be impossible and not even reaching 1,000, we will be very demotivated.
  
  
• Relevant: The goals set must be relevant to your strategy, you have to be very clear about what your needs really are, it makes no sense to set meaningless goals that are not going to help you optimise your strategy, as this could mean spending your efforts on goals that you don't need and leaving aside others that are really important.
  
  
• Time-Related: All the objectives that you set for your strategy must have a specific time to achieve them, deadlines are part of the objectives, it does not make sense to set an objective but not the time in which you must achieve it, as it does not imply the same effort to take a week to achieve something as it does to take 2 years.

We can say that this way of setting goals is one of the most effective in both work and personal environments.

setting goals is always good, we will improve in the long run!

how to write a SMART goal?

Here are four basic guidelines on how to write a SMART goal:

1. Assess your level of commitment: In order to write clear goals, you have to be committed to them, i.e. if you are not committed, you will not be consistent, and therefore, you will not be successful. When writing a goal you have to be fully committed to achieving it, if you are not convinced, you will not achieve it.
2. Divide the goal into sub-goals: By dividing the goal you want to reach into several sub-goals, you are creating a step-by-step action plan, through which you will reach your final goal. You cannot forget that all your objectives are important, whether they are goals or sub-goals, and therefore all of them have to follow the SMART method, they must be concrete and measurable without exception.
3. Set a timeline: Your goals must have a time limit to achieve them, so a great idea to achieve them is to create a timeline where you can see how much time you have left to achieve each goal and keep track of the times for each of them. In this timeline you will also have to set the sub-goals, which are just as important as the goals, as they are the way to achieve them.
4. Change your mindset: You can't afford to be negative or feel that you are not ready to achieve something, if your inner self tells you that you can't, it will end up consuming you, so leave the bad thoughts behind and start to have internal control of your mind, this will help you to achieve everything you set out to do. With negativity you are not going anywhere.

Advantages of writing SMART goals in your project

1. Reduce unnecessary risks: Thanks to setting your objectives, with the SMART method, what you will be getting is that there are not so many risks when implementing a strategy, you will know where you want to go and there will be no doubts.
2. Improve performance: By having the objectives well set and being easily achievable, what will improve with this will be the performance of the workers, as they will be very clear about where they have to get to and they will be motivated to do so.
3. Motivate the team: As we said before, by having good objectives that are perfectly achievable, the team that is in charge of achieving the strategy will be motivated to achieve it. It is an incentive to surpass themselves.
4. Reduce time and costs: By being clear about what we want, we will not waste time redoing the objectives or adding different modifications. We will also reduce costs by saving time and not having to change the objectives.
5. They increase productivity: In any business that has set SMART objectives, productivity will increase because workers have set goals that they have to meet within an exact timeframe, so they will be more motivated to achieve those goals.
6. They are easy to understand: SMART objectives, being so clear when it comes to writing them, are quite easy to understand, there are no complications when it comes to knowing where we have to get to.
7. They serve as a guide: These objectives also serve as a guide when it comes to continuing with our project. Throughout the project we will know where we have to get to, taking into account the objectives that we are following within our timeline.

Writing SMART objectives for your strategy will not only help you to be clear about where you have to go, but will also help you to save costs and time during your project. So, be smart and start writing your SMART objectives.