How I set SMART goals for clients
🔑 Key takeaways:Â
đź“Š Measurable goals help you track progress and adapt as needed
đź“… Deadlines add urgency and keep your projects on track
🛠️ Use KPIs and OKRs to support SMART goals with big-picture context
When it comes to marketing, whether for your freelance business or your clients, relying on intuition and improvising rarely yields results. That’s where SMART goals come in. They’re more than just a fancy acronym; they’re a way to tune your effort into quantifiable, achievable action plans that drive results.
If you’ve been frustrated by campaigns that somehow missed the mark or projects that felt directionless, this could be the tool to change that. Today, we’re going to break down precisely what SMART goals are and how you can use them to improve your marketing efforts. Stick with me, and we’ll walk through actionable steps and real-life examples designed to make the concept crystal clear.
What are SMART goals?
SMART is an acronym used to set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The goal-setting framework transforms vague ambitions (e.g., “I want more blog readers”) into tangible, actionable plans (e.g., “I’ll increase blog visits by 20% within three months”).Â
- Specific: Your goal needs to be detailed and precise.Â
- Measurable: Attach a metric to track your progress.Â
- Achievable: It has to be realistic—not a pipe dream.Â
- Relevant: The goal should align with broader priorities.Â
- Time-bound: Give it a deadline to create urgency.Â
Â
Keep these in mind, because we’ll use this exercise to craft actionable marketing goals step by step.
Why are SMART goals important for marketers?
As freelancers or DIY marketers, we juggle a multitude of tasks, including content creation, client communication, strategy planning, and more. SMART goals bring clarity by assigning a clear purpose to each task. They help you stay grounded, measure what matters, and avoid that dreaded “busy but not productive” cycle.Â
For example, if you’re launching a client’s new Instagram account, a vague goal like “get followers” won’t be particularly effective. Aimless posting gets forgettable results. However, a SMART goal, such as “Gain 1,000 followers in the first three months by posting three times a week and interacting daily with comments,” provides focus and clear criteria for success.
How to set SMART goals for marketing campaigns
Creating SMART goals doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s the process I use with clients and my own projects.
Step 1. Define your goal or outcome
Think about what success looks like for your project. Is it a 50% increase in email sign-ups? Doubling your client’s site traffic? Knowing where you want to go helps define how to get there.
Example:
Vague goal: “I want more customers to download my client’s product guide.”Â
SMART goal: “Get 500 downloads of the product guide in 60 days by running targeted Facebook ads and capturing leads via a landing page.”
Notice how the SMART version leaves no room for guesswork. You know how many downloads you’re after, how you’ll promote the guide, and by when.
Step 2. Make your goal measurable
Attaching numbers to your goals improves accuracy and offers a metric for tracking progress over time. Select metrics that are relevant to the specific campaign. For example, email open rates might be critical for a newsletter launch but irrelevant to a Twitter growth campaign.
Step 3. Make your goal achievable
The “A” in SMART keeps you from overreaching. If you’re just starting a blog, aiming for 100,000 readers in a month isn’t realistic. Ask yourself:
- Do I have the resources to achieve this?Â
- Are there obstacles I need to address first?Â
Example:
If your freelancing client has no ad spending experience, starting small, such as “Receive 50 ad clicks and five leads in the next 30 days with a $300 PPC budget,” can lay the groundwork for scaling up.
Step 4. Make your goal relevant to the bigger picture
Your SMART goals should align with not just the project but also your clients’ or your long-term business objectives. A flashy marketing campaign is pointless if it doesn’t address real needs, such as lead generation, sales, or brand awareness.
If your client is a local fitness trainer, driving Instagram followers isn’t relevant unless those followers are potential clients in their area. Instead, calibrate the goal to “Attract 100 local followers in three months to drive memberships.”
Step 5. Make the goal time-bound
Deadlines ensure you don’t procrastinate. They add a layer of accountability, and they help determine if the timeline is practical. A goal without a finish line is just a dream.
Example:
Vague goal: “Improve website traffic.”Â
SMART goal: “Boost website traffic by 30% in four weeks through SEO-optimized blog posts published twice weekly.”
How to implement SMART goals
Now that I’ve walked you through the theory, here’s how I actually apply SMART goals with my clients. Whether you’re a freelancer or a DIY marketer, you can use this same approach to create structure and build momentum. It’s practical, flexible, and easy to adapt to your own workflow.
- Audit your current baseline before setting a goal. If you’re trying to increase social media engagement, start by noting your current follower counts, average likes, and other relevant metrics.
- Define your SMART goal by using the framework we just discussed. Write it down. Yes, physically writing it helps commit to it mentally.
- Break the goal into tasks by dividing them into smaller, manageable actions (subtasks). For example, to drive email subscriptions, tasks might include creating a lead magnet, designing a landing page to capture emails, and then running ads to drive traffic to that page.
- Track your progress with tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, or email marketing dashboards to monitor your key metrics. Regular check-ins enable you to adjust your tactics as needed.
- Iterate and pivot by evaluating what worked, what didn’t, and why. Use those insights to refine future campaigns.
Real-life SMART marketing goal example
To pull everything together, here’s what a complete SMART marketing goal might look like for a freelancer managing a startup’s email newsletter:
“Increase newsletter subscriptions from 200 to 600 (Specific, Measurable) in the next two months (Time-Bound) by creating a new lead magnet targeted at tech-savvy entrepreneurs and using $1,000 of Facebook ad spend to promote it (Achievable, Relevant).”
This goal tells you exactly what to do, how to measure success, and when to evaluate results.
Other goal-setting methodologies: KPIs and OKRs
While SMART goals are fantastic for clarity and focus, they’re not the only game in town. Different goal-setting frameworks can complement each other to support your marketing strategy or your client’s success. Let’s walk through how these play out using the same client example: a startup looking to ramp up newsletter subscriptions.
Key performance indicators
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are specific metrics used to track progress toward a broader goal. They let you and your client quickly measure what matters most.
Example:Â
For our newsletter project, a core KPI could be “number of new newsletter sign-ups per week.” Other supporting KPIs might include “landing page conversion rate” or “cost per acquisition from Facebook ads.” These numbers provide real-time signals that your larger goal is on or off track.
Objectives and key results
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) take a big-picture approach, combining aspirational objectives with measurable key results. An OKR is typically split into what you want to achieve (Objective) and the quantifiable outcomes (Key Results) that define success.
Example:Â
- Objective: Establish our newsletter as a top resource for tech-savvy entrepreneurs.Â
- Key Result 1: Increase newsletter sign-ups from 200 to 600 in two months.Â
- Key Result 2: Launch a new lead magnet and achieve a 10% download-to-signup conversion rate.Â
- Key Result 3: Increase average email open rate to 30%.Â
Â
You might notice this sounds similar to a bundle of SMART goals. Yet, OKRs offer a way to align smaller tactical goals (like your SMART target) within a broader, strategic context.
How these goal-setting methods support each other
Using these methods together, you get both big-picture vision and tactical execution. In practice, you may set an OKR at the start of a marketing campaign, use SMART goals to define the steps you’ll take, and track KPIs along the way to make sure you’re progressing.
For our client:Â
- OKR: Build a top-tier newsletter community for entrepreneurs.
- SMART Goal: Gain 400 new subscribers in 60 days through a dedicated ad campaign.
- KPIs: Weekly new signups, cost per signup, and email engagement rate.
Â
If you start to fall behind on your KPI numbers mid-campaign, those real-time insights let you adjust your tactics or revisit your SMART goal for improvement, all while still supporting the overall OKR.
Exploring different goal methodologies lets you choose the right mix for each project. It ensures that your goals aren’t just clear, but also meaningful and achievable within the broader context of your marketing efforts.
Set your first SMART goal today
SMART goals eliminate the guesswork in marketing, enabling freelancers and marketers to focus on outcomes that truly matter. Whether you’re running campaigns for clients or tackling your own projects, start experimenting with this framework in your workflow today. You’ll find it not only clarifies your efforts but also improves your confidence when discussing strategies or outcomes with clients.
Now, over to you! What’s one specific SMART marketing goal you can create today? Write it out and start taking steps that bring it to life!
