Short Term Goals vs. Long Term Marketing Goals: Biggest Goal-Setting Mistakes

You’d assume goal setting is a child’s play.

But when David from the team asks about the quarter’s short term and long term marketing goals, you end up scratching your head wondering how short term vs long term goals compare and which ones should you be having.

Fret not though. Because setting both short and long term marketing goals can help you set better (and more achievable) goals on the whole.

So, in this post, let’s look at what short term and long term goals are, how they compare with each other, and the whole enchilada.

Here’s a full breakdown of what you’ll learn:

• What are Short Term and Long Term Goals?
• Short Term vs Long Term Goals: Which Ones Should You Set?
• Short Term and Long Term Goals Examples
• Short Term Goals vs. Long Term Marketing Goals: Biggest Goal-Setting Mistakes

What are Short Term and Long Term Goals?

Before we dive any further into this guide on short term vs long term goals, let’s quickly revise what each is.

Short term goals are goals to quickly accomplish in the near future – say today, tomorrow, the week, even the month.

You can see the results of short term goals in a short while. For example, by checking off an example goal of ‘write a blog post,’ you can get the satisfaction of the job done.

On the other hand, long term goals are goals that extend over a defined period of time. The best way to accomplish them is to break such a goal down into smaller goals that you can complete on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

例如，“ x％增长博客流量”是一个长期目标，您可以通过每周编写一篇新的博客文章（短期目标）来实现这一目标（永远不会在一夜之间）实现。

Short Term vs Long Term Goals: Which Ones Should You Set?

Both short term and long term goals are essentially linked. It’s probably why the majority, 67.3%, of our respondents reveal they favor both short term vs long term goals equally.

18.2%, however, say they prefer long term marketing goals over short term ones. And, 14.6% favor short term marketing goals.

This opinion is from respondents who come from various industries.

For example, 26.4% are from the professional services industry, 17% are from marketing agencies, 15.1% are from the ecommerce sphere, and 94% are from the SaaS verticle.

So why exactly do some of these folks favor short term goals vs long term goals and vice versa?

Let’s explore that next:

Short term marketing goals are better than long terms goals

Tess Tobias ofEncite Branding + Marketing + Creativemakes the case for short term goals – chiefly applauding the detail they offer.

“Setting short-term marketing goals will allow you to pay detailed attention to what works and what does not,” Tobias points out.

To add, these goals “are more manageable when it comes to campaigns and strategy development. They are also an efficient way to manage documentation and analyze growth and success.”

AtCleared, the team is focused on short term goals according to Ryan Rockefeller. They set small goals, for instance, raising a score or metric by at least 11% each quarter to see if their strategies are working.

“这样做，我们研究了各种因素，这些因素可能会阻碍我们提高得分的能力。然后，我们做出改变以克服这些障碍。”洛克菲勒解释说。

Long term marketing goals are better than short terms goals

Famlee Digital’sPeter Lee says they rely on long term goals because their primary focus is on a tactic (SEO) that delivers only long term results.

用Lee的话说：“由于我们的主要重点是SEO，因此我们更加重视长期营销，因为这是一款长期游戏。在短期内，排名会根据各种因素经常变化，这就是为什么我们比短期期更强调长期营销目标的原因。”

Lee承认：“短期营销目标对于某些服务非常有用，在宏观项目中实现微目标可以帮助保持行动。”但是，“重要的是，您的短期目标是您知道的可交付的目标，从而为数字营销的不断变化而言。”

Eden Cheng fromPeopleFinderFreeis on the same page. “Short term and long term should be well defined. Several days or months involved should be mentioned. Not doing so forces businesses to follow a goal without knowing whether or not the expected results are generated.”

To add, Cheng writes: “It’s crucial to track progress in between so that any loopholes can be spotted and rectified. But, when no one knows the duration, nothing makes sense.”

Both short term and long term marketing goals are equally important

The majority of the people we talked to agree that setting both short and long term marketing goals is essential.

Kristaps Brencans of在地图上解释这样做的重要性：“短期和长期目标都是营销工作的重要组成部分。

The long-term strategy is what continuously builds sales momentum, and the short-term should be analyzed and used to feed long-term success. It’s all about settling in the center of the balance beam, which is admittedly difficult, but brand growth depends on it.”

Tenscope’sDavid Smith agrees. “Fixing long-term goals helps paint the bigger picture and inspire the team. However, setting objectives in the short term is just as important because they serve as recurrent indicators to know whether we are on the right track to reach our next milestone.”

“And last but not least, accomplishing goals often gives the team momentum and empowers them to keep going after the next one,” Smith adds.

Stephen Light ofNolah Mattressis of the same opinion. “Short and long-term marketing goals have to work symbiotically to produce a strategy that will bring success and longevity. It’s a tricky balance to strike, but once you figure it out, the rewards are plenty.”

Light also warns: “Focus too much on the short-term in particular, and businesses will find that customer retention and brand awareness suffer.”

And, while you’re setting these goals, it’s important “you should have separate expectations for each, and don’t get them confused,” advises Stephen Heffernan ofThe Connected Narrative。Otherwise, you’ll easily lose focus and the confidence to keep going.”

Now to set these goals the right way, follow the advice that Jordan Brannon fromCoalition Technologiesshares: “Micro or short term goals should be tied to areas you believe your business can succeed in within 3-9 months of being set.”

On the flip side, “Macro or longer term goals can be contributed to by setting shorter term goals a business sets prior, but typically these goals will take 9+ months to achieve.”

In short, “short term goals need long term goals in order to have an ultimate purpose. And you won’t ever reach your long term goals unless your short term goals are designed as a scaffold toward them,” summarizes Will Ward,Translation Equipment HQ。

Put simply, “You cannot separate short term goals from long term goals,” Ward says.

Short Term and Long Term Goals Examples

You can best understand how both types of marketing goals compare when you look at some examples.

As mentioned, short term goals are ones that can be completed quickly. So some examples are:

Short term marketing goals examples:

• Writing two eBooks quarterly
• Creating explainer videos for your brand
• Planning and executing a social media giveaway

长期营销目标示例：

• 发展强大的社交媒体存在
• Using video marketing to rank better on the SERPs
• Establishing your business as the go-to authority in your field

Short Term Goals vs. Long Term Marketing Goals: Biggest Goal-Setting Mistakes

随着短期与长期目标之间的摊牌，让我们看一下营销团队在设定这些目标时犯的一些常见错误。

1. Setting unrealistic goals
2. Lack of consistency between short term and long term goals
3. Failing to align goals with brand purpose
4. Incorrectly prioritizing goals
5. 估计成功不足
6. Incorrectly tying goals to the wrong KPIs
7. Not setting challenging goals

1. Setting unrealistic goals

“设定目标时，错误之一是企业试图掩盖比他们更多的涵盖，即，他们在及时不现实。”Passport Photo Online。

为了进一步解释这个,Dudkiewicz股票t unrealistic goals when they started their outreach strategy.

“With a new team, I made the mistake of setting unattainable objectives for the quarter. As time went by, seeing that it could not be done, the team started to get frustrated, and we had to have a meeting to reorganize them,” Dudkiewicz writes.

“Though it was my failure as a manager, that reorganization turned into positive results. So it’s essential to know how to pull back in time.”

The solution? SetSMART marketing goals。这些目标是特定的，可衡量的，可实现的，现实的，并且（设定）时间范围。

Doing so helps you create goals that are not only realistic but also challenge your team just enough to keep them buzzing with excitement to hit the measurable target.

Related:15 Tips for Setting Realistic Website Traffic Goals

2. Lack of consistency between short term and long term goals

“I think one of the most crucial and perhaps, the most overlooked mistake that companies make while drafting their long-term and short-term goals is the lack of consistency and relation between the two,” opinesPerfect Steel Solutions’Austin Fain.

“What these companies fail to understand is that both of these goals are interrelated and one cannot be completed without the other.”

本质上，您只能通过将其分为可行的短期目标来实现长期目标。同样，您只能通过将短期目标与您的业务目标和策略联系起来，使其与长期目标保持一致。

欣然地说:“把他们两个completely different faucets can lead to mismanagement and eventually a failure to achieve the long-term goals.”

他们犯了同样的错误。“我曾经也是这种想法的受害者，因为当我制定有关公司营销的长期计划时，我将较短的里程碑放到了低级团队的情况下，而没有分享我对我的长期愿景增加销售额。”

“It was a big mistake because both of the goals turned out to be completely opposite – whereby long-term goals were based on brand awareness and loyalty and the short term were based on short-term sales.”

“我的团队专注于没有赢得许多忠实客户的短期销售，因此，我无法实现我的品牌知名度的目标，” Fain阐述说。“那时，我意识到，短期和长期目标都必须适当地保持一致，以实现公司的总体愿景！”

3. Failing to align goals with brand purpose

这样做，您有可能无法完全达到业务目标。

Lisa Richards ofThe Candida Diettalks about it. “In setting long-term marketing goals, one of the common mistakes companies make is failing to determine and execute their brand purpose.”

“Brand purpose shows the motivations of a company and how it positions itself in the industry,” Richards defines. “Identifying what sets your brand apart and what solutions you offer is the foundation of robust long-term brand building.”

“另一方面，在短期营销目标中失败的公司围绕着误导性和无目标的运动。”

“A marketing campaign driven by consumer data and analytics is the key,” outlines Richards.

“通过专注于您的业务吸引并在潜在客户中获得成功的领域。我们公司一直在努力巩固我们的品牌，促进我们的品牌目标并实现消费者数据驱动的目标。我们将继续复制我们的流程并在需要时转移优先级。”

4. Incorrectly prioritizing goals

“Companies often make the mistake of placing a higher level of importance on either their long term or short term goals instead of prioritizing them equally,” notes Jeremy Yamaguchi ofLawn Love。

实际上，只有当您充分优先考虑两种类型的目标时，才能实现这些目标。例如，对短期目标的关注过多，可能意味着您在长期以来就无法获得策略的支持。

Yamaguchi’s been there. “In the past, my company has made the mistake of focusing mainly on short-term goals, however that led to us getting off-track and burning out.”

On the other hand, focusing too much on long term goals will mean you aren’t achieving anything measurable in the short term. So it’s crucial you work on prioritizing both short term and long term marketing goals.

Related:Goals vs. KPIs: How to Set KPIs and Targets That Will Help You Reach Your Business Goals

5. Inadequately estimating success

“Often companies tend to look at short term boosts – quarterly results, for instance with their short term goals with a disconnect with long-term marketing strategy –

流程和目标来维持这种增长,”笔记Abhishek Joshi ofDog with Blog。

This can mean your team is sourcing motivation by achieving short term marketing goals. Sure, it’s important to celebrate short term wins. However, it’s important that your team be aware that those achievements aren’t the end all be all. Instead, short term wins should be seen as milestones accomplished or progress made in achieving the long term goals.

As Joshi puts it: “Without a long term strategy, short term ‘success’ will be short-lived.”

“At the start of my career, I ran a PPC campaign that delivered stellar results but our systems weren’t built for the recurring customer payments and often led to a bad UX, so investment in data centricity and warehouse should have cascaded from long term vision to specific campaigns too,” Joshi explains sharing their experience.

“Post that, I learned to see the campaigns from a distance – what it would entail if we stretch the timelines, what would be the ripple effect of the campaign etc.”

Related:Marketing Reporting: The KPIs, Reports, & Dashboard Templates You Need to Get Started

6. Incorrectly tying goals to the wrong KPIs

“营销团队有一项艰巨的衡量工作。他们的最终目标是推动新的销售，但他们对这一过程的直接控制也不是太多。”Pixoul’sDevon Fata.

“One of the biggest mistakes I made earlier in my career was to tie my marketing team’s compensation to our sales metrics rather than to things more directly within their control.

我最终发现营销团队根本没有得到公平评估。他们因与工作无关的成功而获得了回报，当他们做了很多工作来吸引新客户时，他们会受到惩罚。”

Related:The 20 Most Important B2B KPIs According to More Than 50 Businesses

7. Not setting challenging goals

And finally, setting the same goals every time is also a problem as Maryia Fokina of蒂迪奥observes.

在设定过度雄心勃勃的目标的情况下，无助于激励您的营销团队并提高他们的绩效，每次设定相同的目标也会减慢他们的增长。

“Even if the goals are always ambitious and bring tangible results, it’s extremely important to differentiate both long term and short term marketing goals to make your strategy work,” Fokina opines.

“好营销是一个非常灵活的过程,and your strategy simply cannot be overused, even if it ‘worked perfectly last year.’”

福基纳承认：“世界的发展非常快，您的听众的注意力也是如此。”“因此，能够每次都用新颖而独特的东西抓住它非常重要。”

so like Fokina’s team, consider: “testing new goals, constantly adapt them, and come up with a never-ending stream of ideas.”

Set and Track Your Short Term and Long Term Goals in Databox

With this comparison between short term vs long term goals, it’s clear that you need both types of goals. You also need to ensure they relate with each other and that you prioritize them equally.

Unsure how to track how well you and your team are achieving your marketing goals? Simply create SMART goals then set up progress dashboards in Databox that show how much of each goal is achieved.

With Databox, you can set goals for any of the metrics (from any of the data sources) you’re already tracking. You can track and manage your goals all from one screen, or, visualize goal progress toward any metric in your dashboards.

Visualize your goals in Databox now。