Objectives – are they SMART?

With students working on their CIM assignments at the moment, we thought it a good time to ‘pick out’ some of the common questions asked…. and supply answers.

‘Is this a SMART objective?’ is a common question.
Why don’t you have a go…. Are any of these SMART?
1. To create awareness of the new face cream during the promotional campaign
2. To Increase sales of the new widget by 200% by December 2022
3. To increase the number of new contracts received by 10% by October 22
4. To convert 25% of generated leads into sales.

Just to clarify, a SMART objective must be
• Specific – in other words clearly stated
• Measurable – you need to quantify so that you can measure the success at the end
• Achievable – if it’s not achievable, you won’t get ‘buy-in’ from the others working to achieve it
• Realistic – it needs to ‘fit’ with the organisation’s ‘vision’, values and culture
• Timebound – a deadline, by which you will achieve it

When writing objectives (corporate, marketing or promotional), you will actually write the ‘specific’, ‘measurable’ and ‘timebound’ elements. The ‘achievable’ and ‘realistic’ elements are how you justify the objective itself.
1 and 4 were not timebound and number 2 likely to be unachievable. The answer is of course number 3.

Developing your skills in writing SMART objectives is a big part in most CIM assignments, so get practising!

London Marketing Set offers CIM courses at Foundation, Certificate and Diploma level. To find out more, click here.

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