Jonathan Edwards: Clear, Actionable, SMART goals

Welcome to Week 2 of our 7-week crash course on preparing your business for a successful video marketing campaign in 2025! Now that you understand the power of video marketing, it’s time to focus on something crucial to your success: defining your video marketing goals.

Setting clear, actionable goals is the first step in creating a strategic video marketing plan that aligns with your overall business objectives.

This week we’ll explore the importance of goal-setting, how to use the SMART framework, and have a solid understanding and plan for what you want to achieve with your videos.

When it comes to video marketing, vague goals like “I want my videos to be successful” aren’t going to cut it. To create a strategy that works, you need SMART goals—goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Let’s break this down:

Specific: Your goal should be clear and focused. Instead of saying, “I want more views,” try “I want to increase my YouTube views by 30%.”

Measurable: You need a way to track your progress. A goal like “gain 100 new followers on Instagram in one month” is measurable because you can track the increase in followers.

Achievable: Set a goal that’s challenging but still possible. Don’t try to “go viral,” instead, aim for something like “increase video engagement by 15% over the next quarter.”

Relevant: If your business needs more leads, setting a goal around building brand awareness won’t be as effective as setting a goal around lead generation.

Time-bound: Include a timeframe to hold yourself accountable. Let’s look at a real-world example. If your business is struggling with brand awareness, a SMART goal might be: “Increase Instagram video views by 25% in the next two months by posting at least three videos per week.” This goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to your business needs, and time-bound.

To set meaningful video marketing goals, it’s essential to align them with your overall business objectives. Your business likely has bigger goals—whether that’s increasing sales, improving customer retention, or expanding your audience—and video marketing can be a powerful tool to help you achieve them.

By aligning your video goals with your business objectives, you create a clear path to success. This makes it easier to track progress, measure outcomes, and ensure your video efforts contribute to your overall goals.

For example, to increase website traffic, aim to boost visitors with video content on social media and YouTube. A goal could be increasing traffic by 30% in three months. Or if your goal is to boost social media engagement, try increasing Instagram video engagement by 50% by posting 2-3 short-form videos per week for 60 days. Maybe you want to build an email list, set a goal like increasing sign-ups by 25% through video content embedded in blog posts and landing pages.

If you want to improve customer retention, consider creating 5 customer testimonial videos and aiming for a 15% increase in repeat purchases by the end of the quarter. Maybe you’re launching a new product, set a goal to generate 500 pre-orders through product demo videos on YouTube and Facebook within a month. These specific goals will help guide your video marketing efforts and drive measurable results.

By defining clear, actionable goals for your video marketing, you’re laying the groundwork for a strategic approach to content creation. Goals give your video marketing efforts direction, ensuring that each piece of content you create serves a specific purpose and contributes to your business’s success.

For this week’s action plan, take some time to reflect on your business’s priorities. What are your biggest challenges right now? Are you focused on increasing awareness, generating leads, or driving sales? Once you’ve identified your objectives, write down 2-3 SMART goals for your video marketing efforts. Keep them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound to ensure they’ll help you move the needle.

Next week, we’ll dive into Week 3: Knowing Your Audience and Crafting a Compelling Message. We’ll focus on how to understand your target audience and create videos that speak directly to their needs and interests.

Stay tuned!