OKR has proven to be an effective goal setting and measurement tool for companies since its inception at Intel in the 70s. And that is because the framework is flexible, working for small and large organizations, departments within organizations, or even smaller teams.
That said, marketing is perhaps one of the organizational departments where OKRs excel most. In some of the world’s most successful companies, chief marketing officers use OKRs to help their teams reach campaign targets.
So, why do CMOs use marketing OKRs in their workflows, and more importantly, why should you?
1. They Clarify the Role of Each Individual and Foster Accountability
OKR method provides a framework for setting goals and the desired results for each. This way, the roles, and tasks are clearly defined and measurable and there is no guessing what each person in the marketing team or department needs to do.
Now, when everyone knows what they need to accomplish to achieve the set results, there is transparency and trust. committed and accountable. That builds commitment and accountability in the team.
2. Marketing OKRs Improve Collaboration and Unifies Your Marketing Team
As much as tasks are broken down for each individual, the combined effort of everyone on the team is what ensures you reach your marketing objectives. With OKRs, everyone is aware of the ultimate goal and their contribution towards it.
That helps foster team unity through a shared mission. It also encourages collaboration as people communicate and work with each other to accomplish related tasks.
3. They Motivate the Team to Reach and Exceed Targets
OKR is a good method for CMOs who want to achieve ambitious goals. Maybe your company is expanding operations, and you want to bring in 100 new customers every month. Or you want to boost your brand awareness on social media by doubling the number of followers or increasing engagement by 200% in a month.
The fact the OKRs are supposed to be big and bold with set timelines helps create a sense of urgency, motivating the team to put their best efforts to accomplish goals. The ambitiousness of OKRs is also important in reaching- and sometimes exceeding- targets.
4. OKR Framework Makes Tracking and Modifications Easy to Do
Another reason most successful CMOs use OKRs is just how easy tracking and adjusting according to results is. Workflows can often be hard to manage or make effective, especially when you do not know what to review and against what criteria. For that reason, it is also super difficult to identify what is not working and refine or replace it.
With OKR, goals are measurable against specific metrics so you can know whether you are successful or not. And, since you can review progress along the way, they make it easy to make adjustments where needed to reach certain goals.
Also read: Grow Your Business: Seven Ways To Improve Compliance
Want to Up Your Marketing Game? Get the Most Out of Your Marketing Team by Implementing OKRs
Using OKRs is a simple yet highly effective way to reach marketing goals like improving brand visibility and reaching more customers. And the best thing is that there is OKR software out there to help you get started.