How to Align Your Marketing Goals with Your Business Goals

2021 required many businesses to reevaluate their business plans and completely change their marketing strategy. And with 2022 continuing trends from 2021, it’s important to start your business plan now so you can be prepared for the new year.

Behind every successful business plan is a set of clearly defined marketing goals to guide your focus and measure progress. In order to determine your marketing goals for 2022 let’s first take a look at your previous marketing metrics to understand what in the past has worked or didn’t work, and then let’s take a look at the different criteria to consider when measuring success for your business.

Review Your Past Marketing Metrics

To start planning for 2022 it’s important to understand what consumer trends have emerged from the past year. In 2021 we have seen changes in the way people consume their media. With the emergence of new platforms such as Discord, Twitch, and Tiktok, it is important to create a brand presence on these sites. These new and unique platforms allow digital marketers to explore a new audience of Gen Z.

To understand your consumer trends, you’ll want to look for general audience behavior – not just their reaction to specific content. With 2021, bringing more people back to the office and others continuing at home, it is important to appeal to both audiences. eCommerce had provided the perfect bridge for both audiences with the ability to sell products online. By 2023, eCommerce will account for more than $6.5 trillion in sales, representing 22% of all global retail sales.

It seems that in the past year, with prevalent changes to our daily livelihood, consumers are much more focused on real connection rather than sales. Keeping this in mind, it may be a good time to consider what long-term value your brand could bring to your customers. With 2021 looking similar to 2020, maintaining a strong connection with your followers and customers could change the way you interact with your online presence.

Business Data to Consider When Determining Your Marketing Goals

Once you have a better understanding of your audience behavior by reviewing your 2021 marketing metrics you can start to determine your marketing goals for 2022. Here are a few things your team will want to do in order to determine your goals and have a successful New Year.

1. Identify How Much Revenue You Need 

First, take a look at your past year in terms of sales. Then determine what percentage your business grew by. It’s likely that you had growth goals for 2021. Did you meet or exceed your expectations? In looking at these past numbers and growth rates, you’ll be able to realistically understand how your business is currently doing before setting expectations for 2022. You’ll most likely already have a budget set in store for the upcoming year, so take that data into account as well.

2. Determine How Many Sales You Need

When thinking about new customers, setting goals with actual data is key. Take your revenue gap and divide it by the value of your average sale. This will allow you to make informed decisions for the new year.

For example, if the revenue needed is $300,000 and your average sale is $30,000, then you need at least 10 new customers to hit your revenue goals. Look at your 2020 goals and pair them up with your results.

3. Identify How Many SQL’s & MQL’s You Need

A sales qualified lead (SQL) is a lead that will be passed to the sales team. Whereas a marketing qualified lead (MQL) is a lead that is qualified, but maybe not ready to take the next step. MQL’s need more information and lead nurturing to become more sales-ready. Look at your metrics from 2021—how many MQLs did you generate? How many SQLs did you generate? How many leads were you able to convert to customers? Use this data to influence your 2021 goal numbers. 

Maybe a goal for 2022 will be to increase your lead-to-customer conversion rate. Take a look at your industry conversion rates to gather a realistic number for your business.

Or maybe if you had 200 MQLs but only 10 became an SQL in 2021 then perhaps a goal would be to increase your number of SQLs in 2022 by improving your lead nurturing process.

Download our Guide, “The Domino Effect: Creating Your Most Effective Digital Marketing Strategy” for an overview of how to nurture your leads down the sales funnel.”

4. Identify How Much Traffic You Need 

One can assume that the more traffic you get to your site, the more leads your business will receive. A common marketing goal could be to increase your web traffic by 10% each month by targeting a specific industry persona with LinkedIn ads.

But it’s not just about a high number of website visitors, you also have to make sure you’re attracting quality visitors to your website too! This goal-setting step has much to do with the content you put out. 

In order to estimate a realistic website traffic number, be sure to also take a deeper dive into what your customers are interacting with. Are you creating relevant and useful content that’s attracting your ideal audience to your website? If you aren’t generating a lot of website traffic, or if you’re attracting the wrong clientele then it may be time to reevaluate the type of content you’re posting, audience personas, posting times, and/or social media practices.

You know your business better than anyone and can make informed decisions on how you want or need to interact with your consumers. Again, keep your marketing metrics in mind here though, as these can influence your consumer base as well.

How to Set & Implement Your Goals 

After taking a deep dive into the costs, and marketing metrics, it’s time to set and implement your 2022 goals. Rather than simply stating you want to generate new leads for the New Year, begin by setting specific, trackable, and realistic goals for your company. A good goal may sound something like this: 

“We would like to generate 4 customers from our current client list using email marketing, and would also like to add all qualified leads to our mailing list, allowing us to keep these leads warm for future sales.”

With that process in mind, you may want to try setting goals by using the acronym SMART. A SMART goal is: 

• Specific: Your goal must focus on one clearly defined metric.
• Measurable: You must have a way to measure the content you publish against that metric.
• Aspirational: Your goal must push you beyond the results your content will naturally or organically generate toward that metric.
• Realistic: In the same breath, keep your aspiration in check with what you can reasonably complete with the resources that are (or will be) available to you.
• Time-bound: Your goal must have an end date upon which you will achieve that metric.

With these tips in mind, it’ll be much more effective for your team to understand where you want your business to be in the upcoming year.

Pyxl can help!

Need help determining your marketing goals for 2022? Pyxl can help! If your business is looking to change up your marketing strategy, we can help you create a new process with your team and we’ll work alongside you every step of the way to make sure you’re getting what you need to satisfy your 2022 business goals. Click here to receive a complimentary 2021 digital strategy consultation from one of our industry experts.

Or download our “The Domino Effect: Creating Your Most Effective Digital Marketing Strategy” for some tips on how to realign your business development strategy and revise your digital marketing plan just in time for the New Year.

Updated: May 09, 2023