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Goals vs Objectives: The Simple Breakdown

This blog article is in Bryant Pro Medium. The title is in bold. Terminology is everything. Marketing, Sales, Product, Service — virtually every function in a business relies on some common terminology to do their best work. One area where alignment on terminology is essential is goal setting.

Whether you use the OKR model, the KPI framework, the Golden Circle, or another methodology, everyone in the company should understand the difference between a goal and an objective. Without this shared knowledge, teams could risk wasting time on irrelevant activities, at best, or working against a common purpose, at worst.

“Goals” and “Objectives” often seem like two interchangeable phrases on the surface. “We have ambitious goals for 2019,” you might tell your marketing team, following up with, “Our objectives are aggressive but entirely possible.”

To make your strategy crystal clear and gain alignment, it’s vital that your employees are up-to-date on the two most-used terms when outlining your quarterly and yearly strategy.

Here, we’ll explain the difference between goals and objectives and discuss some of the most effective goal-setting frameworks used by marketing professionals today. You’ll also find measurement tactics to track your progress. By the end of this post, you can wave goodbye to ambiguity when it comes to your long-term and short-term marketing plans.

A goal is an achievable outcome that is typically broad and long-term. A company might use goals to inform yearly strategies that each department will execute. An objective, on the other hand, defines the specific, measurable actions each team employee must take to achieve the overall goal. To sum it up, the main difference between a goal and an objective is that goals provide direction whereas objectives measure how you should follow that direction.

 

Goals are undoubtedly critical to your business’s success. Ultimately, your company’s goals should align with your vision and mission in order for employees to best guide their own actions and decisions.

 

“Create a more inclusive workplace culture” is an admirable and important goal to have, but it’s vague and too broad to measure. Does “more inclusive” mean one diversity and inclusion panel discussion, or does it mean a 10% increase in women in leadership positions?

Ultimately, your objectives will help your employees understand exactly what you expect from them.

In another example, let’s say you inform your marketing department that your overall goal is to “grow international brand awareness”.

Now, when your social media marketing manager is crafting her quarterly video campaign, she’ll think to herself — Hmm. How can I increase international brand awareness?

She can cater her objectives to fit company goals, as well as her own personal vision. Perhaps she decides, “To demonstrate my success at increasing international brand awareness, my objectives for my video marketing campaign will be a) 10% of all form submissions come from outside the U.S., and b) an increase in engagement from Spanish-speaking Facebook fans by 5%.”

Your social media marketing manager can then use her unique objectives to measure whether or not she’s contributing to the larger company goal of increasing international brand awareness.

1. Mission and Background

Begin your sales plan by stating your company mission and vision statements. And write up a brief history of the business — this will provide background information as the plan drills down into more specific details.

2. Team

Next, describe who is on your team and what their roles are. Perhaps you manage five salespeople and work closely with a sales enablement professional and a sales ops specialist.

If you’re planning on adding headcount, include the number of employees, their job titles, and when you’re planning to bring them on the team.

3. Target Market

Whether you’re writing your first sales plan or your fifteenth, knowing your target demographic is crucial. What do your best customers look like? Do they all belong to a specific industry? Exceed a certain size? Struggle with the same challenge?

Keep in mind you might have different buyer personas for different products. For example, HubSpot’s salespeople might primarily sell marketing software to CMOs and sales software to sales directors.

This section of your sales plan can also change dramatically over time as your solution and strategy evolves and you adjust product-market fit. In the very beginning, when your product was in its infancy and your prices were low, you may have found success selling to startups. Now that the product is far more robust and you’ve raised the price, mid-market companies are likely a better fit. That’s why it’s important to consistently review and update your personas.

4. Tools, Software, and Resources

You should also include a description of your resources. Which CRM software do you plan on using? Do you have a budget for sales contests and incentives?

This is where you’ll lay out which tools your salespeople should use to succeed in their jobs (e.g., training, documentation, sales enablement tools, etc.).

5. Positioning

Now, name your competitors. Explain how your products compare, where theirs are stronger than yours, and vice versa. In addition, discuss their pricing versus yours.

You should also discuss market trends. If you’re a SaaS company, you should note vertical-specific software that is becoming more popular. If you sell ads, mention the rise in programmatic mobile advertising. Try to predict how these changes will influence your business.

6. Marketing Strategy

In this section, describe your pricing and any promotions you’re planning on running. What key actions will you take to increase brand awareness and generate leads? Note the impact on sales.