It never fails. Virtually every time we sit down with a client—or even other marketers—to discuss the components of an upcoming marketing plan, there is some level of confusion as to what’s what.

Even we get confused sometimes.

But as easy as it is to say, “it doesn’t really matter” or “they’re all interchangeable,” the truth is, it does matter. A good marketing plan charts your course, determines what actions will be taken and holds you (and others) accountable. If you say one thing but mean another, the whole plan could fall apart.

To help keep you on the straight and narrow, we’re providing a two-part blog post defining the common components of a marketing plan (Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics—GOST) and how they all work together.

In today’s post, we’ll take a look at the top two components of a plan: goals and objectives.

Goals

As you work through the components of a marketing plan, it’s always good to remember that, from top to bottom, you’re going from the most general information to the most specific. That said, as the first component in any plan, the goal is the broad statement about what you would like to accomplish. For example, if you manufacture fidget spinners (the modern version of the time-tested widget) your goal might be to “become the world’s best-selling brand of fidget spinner.” Goals should be lofty, yet attainable and serve as the … well, goal of everything that follows in the plan.

Objectives

Living just below the goal, the objectives are the broad approaches you will take to achieve your ultimate goal. However, while they are still somewhat broad, they are also measurable. So, if the goal for our fictional product is to become the world’s best-selling brand of fidget spinners, one objective might be to “increase domestic market share by 15 percent” while another could be to “improve international brand recognition.” Earlier we mentioned the idea of accountability and this is where it often comes into play. Be careful to 1) set objectives you have a reasonable chance to achieve and 2) set objectives that ultimately you control. The worst thing you can do for yourself is to set an objective that’s completely out of reach or is largely effected by factors out of your control.

One final hint, having trouble figuring out if something you have come up with is an objective or not? Look for verbs at the beginning of the sentence. Objectives will often start with words like “increase,” “decrease,” “improve,” “sell,” etc.

Stay tuned for our next post when we’ll take a look at strategies and tactics.

Until then …