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How to set SMART marketing goals (with free template)

3rd August 20239th January 2019 by Reka Veszeli

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How to set SMART marketing goals

with free template

The year has already started, but it’s still not too late to plan your marketing strategy. A fundamental element of it is to set your goals. I’m not talking about something like GROWTH or ENGAGEMENT. These are just headlines, what you really need are real goals. SMART goals.

Image source: Canva.com

Why?

Goal setting is the backbone of every successful marketing planning. If they are not clear how do you know you’ve reached them? Furthermore, well-defined goals will help you to define the concrete action steps you need to take.

SMART goals help to focus your efforts, maximise your productivity and achieve all you want this year.

Are you ready to get started?

Evaluate your current position

Investigate where you’ve come from to define where you’re going. Analyse your current activities and ask yourself:

What marketing activities I had last year? How much time they required and were they worth the effort or not?
Where my website visitors are coming from? From Google search, paid ads or social media?
Which platform performed the best in terms of ROI (Return on Investment)?
How many sales did I close?
Do I have the same focus as last year?

Use this information as a benchmark when moving on to the next step.

Use the “Social media goals” section of the free Social Media Content Planning Guide as a template

Set SMART goals

Let’s start with an example:
I’m going to increase my blog traffic from 7000 page views/month to 10000 by the end of June to get more affiliate income.

S = Specific

A specific goal will help you to see clearly and grant you a bigger chance of success. This is where the 5Ws can help you. These are the questions considered as basic in problem-solving or in gathering information.

WHO – Who is responsible for achieving the goal?
I’m going to increase my blog traffic from 7000 page views month to 10000 until the end of June to get more affiliate income.

WHAT – What do you want to achieve?
I’m going to increase my blog traffic from 7000 page views/month to 10000 until the end of June to get more affiliate income.

WHERE – In which are of your business? In which platform?
I’m going to increase my blog traffic from 7000 page views/month to 10000 until the end of June to get more affiliate income.

WHEN – What is the deadline? When it will occur?
I’m going to increase my blog traffic from 7000 page views/month to 10000 until the end of June to get more affiliate income.

WHY – What is your motivation? What you will gain from completing the goal?
I’m going to increase my blog traffic from 7000 page views/month to 10 000 until the end of June to get more affiliate income.

Don’t forget, the more specific, the better, so you can always add more information.

M = Measurable

Your goals need to be measured, so you need to break down each goal into elements that you can actually track.

For example, instead of saying “I want to increase customer satisfaction” you should think about factors that contribute to customer satisfaction and form statements, like:

I want to get 25% more five-star reviews from my customers.

I want to decrease the number of negative comments on Facebook by 25%.

I want 75% of my new customers to became repeat customers.”

Image made by using Canva

A = Achievable

Last year the number of your Instagram followers has grown from 2500 to 4000. Then expecting that this year it will grow from 4000 to 25K might be a bit unrealistic. At the same time to set a goal to reach 4500 don’t seem to be challenging.

Don’t be too shy but try to stay realistic and doable. Use the results of your evaluation or check your competitors for further insights.

R = Relevant

There is no need for goals that have nothing to do with your mission. Choose business objectives that matter. If your main objective is growth for Q1, then setting up goals on how to increase engagement might be not the best choice.

Timing is also crucial. Let’s say you have a wedding stationery business. Then more likely most of your sales occur in the first half of the year. (In summer when most of the wedding are held and in spring when invitations are sent out.) Therefore, don’t set goals expecting the highest number of sales for Autumn.

T = Time-bound

Have a clear time frame for your goals. It can be a deadline (by the end of June) or an interval (in Q3). This will keep you stay focused and helps to set priorities. To set attainable goals you can use the results of your evaluation again.

Hi, I’m Reka,

Welcome to my website. Explore, find inspiration, motivation, and resources.

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5+5 amazing sites for free stock photos

3rd August 202322nd October 2018 by Reka Veszeli

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5 + 5 amazing sites for free stock photos you must know

In this article, I’ve collected my top 5 alternatives for iStock or Shutterstock if you are looking for royalty free images. In addition, I’ve done the research for you to find another top 5 option that is mostly recommended by other bloggers.

If you are looking for more engagement on social media the first thing to do is to improve your visuals. Photos that resonates better with your content and audience and a more cohesive look can make a huge difference.

“Easy to say… but how to do it without spending a fortune on stock photos?”

1) Pexels

It’s not a surprise that Pexels is among the most popular ones. They offer a wide range of well-organized photos in their ever-growing collection. This is the first place to go for me and I usually don’t have to continue my search more.

Update: Now you can browse free videos too.

2) Unsplash

The website claims over 70,000 contributing photographers, so it’s not a surprise how large is their collection. The images are simply beautiful, and you can get any of those in high resolution in a minute. Sounds like a good deal, huh?

3) Pixabay

As you can see on the picture Pixabay automatically sets the language as Hungarian for me. (I guess based on my IP address.) This non-pre-made setting is not just making the surface more familiar but makes it possible to search in your native language – unlike many other sites. I generally prefer to search in English, but I like the opportunity to be able to search in other languages successfully.

If you are a marketeer this site is a must have for you as Pixabay seems to be more marketing and business oriented and it also offers free vectors and illustrations.

4) Canva

The free image collection of Canva might not the largest, but quality and uniqueness compensate the issue with quantity. If you are using the Canva design tool the process is even easier. Just choose your design, go to Elements / Free photos and add the image you like to your design.

Update: Now you can add free videos too.

5) Rawpixel

The only site on my list that requires you to register in order to download any image is Rawpixel. To be honest, I’m not really a fan of being forced to do so, but once you saw its’ diverse collection – including vectors – you’ll forgive it.

Haven’t found your favourite or still looking for more? Check these ones too

6) Morguefile

7) Reshot

8) Pikwizard

9) Picjumbo

10) Stockvault

Image source: Unsplash @Kobu Agency

How to use Royalty free stock photos

Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license basically means that you can use those photos as you wish. “You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.”

For more information visit Creative Commons

tips and advices

Mark the author
I’ve been guilty of not doing this in the past, but as I’m getting more conscious, I’m always trying to mark the author too. I think a mention on the website or a hashtag on Instagram is the least we can do for our photo-heroes.

Choose your favourites, but don’t forget the others
Having your favourite site can save you time on searching, but it also narrows your opportunities. I suggest bookmarking multiple options and look around on other sites from time to time.

Save your favourites for later
Think about tomorrow. You know your visual style and your content types, so it should be a no-brainer to decide which images can be useful later. Create a folder on your computer and save those images you feel can be useful later.

Don’t rely only on stock images
Stock photos are amazing, but nothing is better than original and truly unique images. Try to use your own pictures as much as possible.

This article is not a sponsored content. I haven’t been hired or paid to recommend any of the sites.

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How well do you know your customers? Here’s how to create and use buyer personas. (with free template)

25th April 202427th September 2018 by Reka Veszeli

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do you know your customers? Here’s how to create and use buyer personas

with free template

Rachel, the mompreneur, Phoebe, the freelancer or Chandler, the data specialist. Buyer personas are semi-fictional, generalised representations of your ideal customers. By giving one personality to these groups you can understand your customers and will be able to provide content that is truly valuable for them. Creating these marketing personas can be time-consuming, but also extremely fun and useful.

Why I need buyer personas?

Well-created buyer personas can help you to reach your goals by focusing your energies on creating value to the right people instead of making content for “everyone”. Also, if you think of your target groups as one person it helps to relate more to its problems and motivations – why is she looking for a new solution or what he wants to avoid – so you can offer them the best solution and help them through the process.

Well-created buyer personas can help you to reach your goals by focusing your energies on creating value to the right people.

Okay, I get the idea. But how do I make one?

First, I suggest you download my free guide Let’s create buyer personas, that contains a template that guides you through the process.

How to get started

To get started with the actual work examine your existing customers and think about other audience segments you can work with. Try to focus on your ideal customers and don’t waste on groups who might want to buy your services/products at one point in their life.

If you have no customers yet, you can make a focus group and should start stalking a bit… Think about people who can represent your ideal customers and ask them about their goals, fears and everything you want to include into your document. Furthermore, check out what your competitors do, and how their follower base looks like.

Image source: Pexels by Ksenia Chernaya

Think about people who can represent your ideal customers and ask them about their goals, fears and everything you want to include into your document.

What to include

When creating your personas, consider including the following: a short introduction, demographics and income, social media usage – especially if your goal is to build a strong online presence – goals and challenges. The more information you have and the more detailed you are the better the results you can achieve. So, feel free to be creative and add any fields that helps your work. For example, you can add the mother language of your persona. If you’re making custom earrings, the favourite colour of your persona can be an important addition.

“When should I use these personas?”

Sort answer

Constantly.

long answer

Use them for campaign planning. Now, that you know the main challenges of your target audience you can provide solutions to them. Create content (blog posts, guides, e-books, social media posts) that they find helpful, so you can build better relationships.

Use this document when you’re thinking about product development or new service packages.

Buyer personas are also a great help when you’re planning a paid campaign – eg. on social media. Most networks offer you amazingly detailed targeting options and with all info in hand you can target like a pro.

Image source: Unsplash by Austin Distel

The NeverEnding Story

No, I’m not speaking about the book…

You need to understand, that you’re never really finished creating your buyer personas – and you should never stop updating and re-evaluating them. As you grow and gather more data you can add further information to your existing ones. Your business may change its’ original direction therefore your ideal customer will change too, or you add new solutions to your portfolio, that is aimed for different people. No matter what’s the reason don’t forget to refresh your buyer personas in regular intervals.

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