Sarah Levine Meyer, Director of Strategy at One North, discusses the importance of recalibrating goals, understanding the necessity of reevaluating and readjusting the goals we set for ourselves as marketers in the ever-changing digital space. From the 2014 Experience Lab: Reimagine Marketing. To watch a video of this presentation, visit http://bit.ly/1uCjPJj.

1. RECALIBRATING
GOALS
Flexible, Adjustable
and Achievable

2. Sarah Levine Meyer
@SLevineMeyer

3. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE
ANNUAL PLAN?

4. How We Operate
Business
Objectives
Annual
Plan
Marketing
Activities
So what’s the problem?

5. Annual planning sends us down a
path to accomplish goals that many
times become stale and misaligned
with current business needs.

6. Allow Me to Explain

7. The challenge involves people getting
doused with buckets of ice water on video,
posting that video to social media, then
nominating others to do the same, all in an
effort to raise ALS awareness.
Those who refuse to take the challenge
are asked to make a donation to the ALS
charity of their choice.
- ALS Association
http://www.alsa.org/news/archive/ice-bucket-challenge.html

8. or
Increase
Awareness
And challenge your friends

9. Fewer than 90 days
More than 1.2 million Facebook shares
More than 2.2 million Twitter mentions

10. What Now?
In many ways, this campaign was working.
Increase
Awareness
✔
• The plan can’t account for results
• Goals need to recalibrated to the current
state

11. August 10
The challenge involves people getting doused
with buckets of ice water on video, posting that
video to social media, then nominating others
to do the same, all in an effort to raise ALS
awareness.
Those who refuse to take the challenge are
asked to make a donation to the ALS charity of
their choice.
- ALS Association
http://www.alsa.org/news/archive/ice-bucket-challenge.html

12. August 22
The challenge involves people getting doused
with buckets of ice water on video, posting that
video to social media, then nominating others
to do the same, all in an effort to raise ALS
awareness.
People can either accept the challenge or
make a donation to an ALS Charity of their
choice, or do both.
- ALS Association
http://www.alsa.org/news/archive/ice-bucket-challenge.html

13. A Recalibrated Goal
August 10
Accept the challenge or
donate.
August 22
Accept the challenge, or
donate, or do both.
Increase
Awareness
Continue to
build
awareness, and
drive donations

14. Not Part of the Annual Plan
Good problems.
• The strategies you employ should change
the landscape, and when the landscape
changes it’s time to recalibrate your goals.
• Revised goals may merit adjustments to
your strategies.

15. Market
developments
Changed
information
A landscape shift is essentially something that
occurs for which you cannot plan.
More data

16. Ill-Positioned to React to Shifts
Business
Objectives
Annual
Plan
Marketing
Activities

17. Position to Recalibrate
Identify
Prioritize
Execute
Recalibrate
Shift in landscape

18. A SCENARIO

19. Grow Oil & Gas Industry Presence
Hire individuals with oil & gas experience
– Have experienced individuals publish weekly newsletter under the firm’s name
– Leverage their networks
Open an office in Houston
Work with PR partner about recommendations for increasing
exposure
– Events
– Presence in industry publications
Talk to digital strategy partner about how to best leverage digital
– Campaigns to support
– Targeted positioning

20. Execution
Generate
Awareness
• Send newsletters
• Host events
• Promote on your website
• Leaders generate conversation on LinkedIn
• Publish regularly in industry publications

21. It’s Working
Analytics
There are some
newsletter
recipients who
consistently click
through and read
your materials
Stick with the plan?

22. Recalibrate
• Curate strategically
• Targeted events
• Personal contact
Increase
Awareness ✔
Drive
Consideration

23. PLAN TO RECALIBRATE

24. Identify, Prioritize, Execute…
Identify
SMART goals
Succinct, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time-bound
Prioritize
Determine which goals are most important
Helps organize how your time is spent
Aids when more is asked of you than you have time for
Execute
Tie all strategies and tactics to a goal(s)
Ex. Using a goal tree

25. Goal Tree

26. Now that you’ve executed…

27. Not so much.

28. Position to Recalibrate
Anticipate
• Expect that the landscape will change - we hope!
Pay attention
• Ensure you’re measuring against your goals using the metrics you set up when
identifying
Ask questions
• What do I need to do to move towards this goal?
• How am I doing against this goal with my current strategy?
• Does this goal still make sense?
Develop a working team
• Responsible for identifying and evaluating the goals
• Consider the data that will prove whether you have set the correct goals

29. Takeaways
• Create connectivity between goals and strategies/
tactics in your annual plan
• Measure the success of your strategies
• Be prepared to recalibrate your strategies
(sometimes this is a good thing!)
• Don’t assume the timeframe for recalibration

30. My Advice to You
Psychologists tell us that people who make
consistent progress toward meaningful goals
live happier more satisfied lives than those
who don’t.
Make sure your goals are consistently
meaningful to your business by recalibrating
them regularly.
http://michaelhyatt.com/goal-setting.html

31. Thank You!