It’s that time of year again: Either you’re scrambling to get your 2021 home improvement marketing goals in order, or you’ve already done it. Either way, find out more about SMART goals below and make sure your marketing targets follow this format for a greater likelihood of success in 2021.

What Are SMART Marketing Goals?
SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. SMART marketing goals, then, are well-defined, attached to measurable outcomes, realistic, relevant to your business, and limited by a deadline or set period of time.

Here’s a look at how each of these factors can impact your home improvement marketing goals:

1. Specific. Your goal shouldn’t be a “wish” or even a “resolution.” Those sound like this: “We’d love to have more business this year than last.” A goal is more solid and defined. It sounds like this: “Our goal is to increase sales of new installations by 10% and service revenue by 15% over last year.”
2. Measurable. Metrics are critical to managing goals. Consider a goal of increasing conversion rates from 2% to 3%. If you can’t track all your conversions, you never know if you actually met this goal or not. And if you’re not measuring marketing efforts in real time, you don’t know that your newest campaign actually dropped you to a conversion rate of 1.5%, which is moving you in the opposite direction. You need measurable information so you can make proactive improvements.
3. Attainable. Your marketing goals must always be realistic. If you’re not sure whether doubling the traffic on your website is a realistic goal, talk to your marketing staff, agency, or an outside consultant. Creating unattainable goals — because you’re “wishing” rather than setting goals based on data — sets you up for failure and can create morale problems later in the year.
4. Relevant. Marketing goals can never be solely about driving traffic or building awareness for your products. In the end, if people aren’t following through to make a purchase, you’re wasting your money. Ensure your marketing goals are tied to business goals — it’s a good idea to set the latter first and make your marketing goals from there.
5. Time-based. Finally, don’t leave goals open-ended. You’ll never achieve them if you’re working on them forever. Set periods of time or deadlines, such as “during the second quarter” or “by July 15.”