Marketing is “the process of identifying, anticipating (predicting) and satisfying customer needs profitably”.

Marketing objectives therefore need to be consistent with the purpose of marketing. They also need to be consistent with and support the overall corporate (business) objectives:

What makes a good marketing objective? It is often said that an effective marketing objective meets the SMART criteria:

Some examples of marketing objectives which meet these criteria would be:

• Increase company sales by 25% by 2016
• Achieve a market share of 30% for Product C within 3 years of launch
• Increase the percentage of customers who rate service as "excellent" from 80% to 85% within 18 months

Business Benefits of Setting Marketing Objectives

Provided the marketing objectives are relevant and achievable, there are some important business benefits from setting them and monitoring progress against them. Effective marketing objectives:

• Ensure functional activities consistent with corporate objectives
• Provide a focus for marketing decision-making and effort
• Provide incentives for marketing team and a measure of success / failure
• Establish priorities for marketing resources and effort