As functional objectives, the marketing objectives need to be consistent with, and support the overall business (or corporate) objectives.

Below are some examples of how marketing objectives could be set to support the overall corporate objectives.

Business Objective: Maintain or Increase Market Share

Supporting marketing objectives might be:

• Achieve revenue growth of 20% per year for the next four years
• Increase our market share in the UK by 5% by 2017
• Add 1,000 new customer accounts generating at least £100,000 per account within four years

Business Objective: Develop Innovative New Products

Supporting marketing objectives might be:

• Launch at least 25 new products into the industrial channel in 2016 and 2017
• Grow average first-year sales of new editions by 25% in the Higher Education sector

Business Objective: Increase the Quality of Service to Existing Customers

Supporting marketing objectives might be:

• Achieve at least an 95% excellent customer service rating each month
• Increase the proportion of sales bookings from repeat business to 45% for the summer season

Business Objective: Enter a New Market

Supporting marketing objectives might be:

• Supply a minimum of 50,000 trial downloads per month
• Increase the number of customer enquiries from the EU by 10,000 per month
• Recruit five distribution agents in the four target countries within 12 months

Business Objective: Build Competitive Advantage

Supporting marketing objectives might be:

Reduce average distribution costs to less than 5% of gross revenue

Reduce the order lead time by 15%

Improve brand recognition amongst the 25-34 age group