how can I set an attainable goal

[#1]

Hello marketers!

I have questions, 

how can I know that if this goal is attainable or not?

for example:

increase overall website traffic from social media by 30%, from 100000 visitors to 130000 visitors, by November 30th, 2016

why don't I set it to be 50% or 70%? 

how can I know if the budget can do that or not

thank you.

[#2]

Hey @abdulrahman can you share some more information about your business, your current social / web / content performance and your target market? With more information some of our experts below will be able to lend their knowledge. @Josh, @shearn, @HappyTaty, @laurenmarjorie, @Phil_Vallender, @SeanHenri, @Ian

[#3]

Hi @roisinkirby thank you for your reply.

my question was in general not in a specific issue in my business.

thank you again.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Hi @abdulrahman,

I don't think that there will be a definitive answer for you. Every situation is going to be so different. What I would say is to look at past performance/trends and look at industry performance/trends and make an estimation from there. Your first attempt at setting these goals may not be spot on, but you can review and adapt as necessary.

Happy to talk through this with you a bit and even try and work with you to establish some of these goals if you're interested.

@roisinkirby - as always, thanks for the mention!

Josh

[#5 · Accepted solution]

Hi @abdulrahman, this is a great question! Definately look at your past performance to gauge your own organization's ability to drive improvements. What % improvement do you typically see Year over Year, and Month over Month?

Beyond that, I've found that a very helpful exercise is to break down your primary goal into smaller, bite-sized ones. In order to increase traffic by 30%, what other metrics need to improve? How much more content will you need to create? How much time does it usually take you to create that content? How many hours does that leave you with each week?  Get really specific.

I would then use a tool like Databox to monitor your progress towards those goals.  Seeing the data on a daily basis will make it much easer to forecast what is attainable and what isn't.

I just recorded a video on this topic that might be helpful.  Let me know if it adds any more clarity to your goal setting exercise.

[#6]

Sean,

Thank you very much for your video and introduction to Databox.com. I've signed up for it. I came to this forum seeking info regarding the Hubspot Goals App that I apparently don't have (I have Marketing Basic) but your tool looks promising. I especially like the choice of different templates depending on what type of goals I'm setting. 

I think I'm going to share your video on LinkedIn

Thanks again, and God bless!

Marianne

[#7]

So glad I can help! Let me know if you have any trouble as you get going with it!