How to Roll Out OKRs for the Marketing Team That Will Help Them Thrive

Simplifying the goal-setting methodology can help marketing executives lead their teams toward success. When you take one objective at a time and work towards making it more extensive, you get better results. One such progress measurement method proven to be effective is the marketing OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) framework.

What Are OKRs?

OKR is a method that facilitates marketing teams in molding their goals and thoughts into an objective statement. These clear objectives are followed by key results that help the marketing team measure these achievements.

How Do OKRs Help Marketing Teams?

Many experts would agree that OKR can be beneficial for marketing teams as it offers exceptional performances. But what makes it so beneficial? Read on to find out three ways your marketing team can make benefit from OKRs:

Align Company Goals With Marketing Goals

Through the OKR method, you will set up high-level objectives. This will ensure that all departments of your company stay aligned with company goals. Then, teams across the organization will use these goals to gain insights into every departments’ activities.

Get Desired Outcomes

Unless you have well-defined objectives, your marketing won’t hit the target you want because it will always keep moving. Hence, with OKRs, you will be able to work towards achieving your goals systematically.

Sense Of Accomplishment

A significant part of implementing marketing OKRs is having a clear metric for success. To give your employees a better idea about what they’re supposed to be working on every day, offer them better insight into success metrics and clear objectives. Moreover, employees will feel more engaged with their work and the organization. It will instill positive feelings in them, adding to their well-being.

How Do You Set A Marketing OKR?

Now that you know why OKRs are necessary for your marketing team, you can take the high road. But, how will you do that?

Here is your step-by-step guide to rolling out OKRs for your marketing team.

Step #1: Create an OKR

This stage will require some high-grade thinking. You can start by defining the essential objectives of your marketing. Next, you will need to invest some thought into considering how these objectives align with overall company goals. To get a precise idea, talk to your executive team. Then you can see where the marketing team can do its part in helping the company get there.

Step #2: Recognize Your OKR Tool Needs

At this stage, you will need to identify the kind of OKR tool your organization requires. The OKRs should be visible to everyone to help your program. With the reporting tools, employees will be able to track company-wide OKRs. So your program can conveniently grow beyond just marketing.

Step #3: Set Up Key Results

Now you will move towards setting up some key results. These key results will help you see if you’re meeting your objectives. You can operate these metrics as they are measurable. But, most important of all, they should directly contribute to the defined goal.

Step #4: Structure A Statement

By this stage, you will have everything you need. All you need now is to create your OKR statement with the help of the objectives and key results.

Step #5: Share Your OKRs

Once you have finalized everything along with the statement, share the OKRs you have created with your marketing team so they can start working towards it. However, this isn’t a one-time thing that will stay the same forever. Set up a routine reviewing progress to make any required changes. Otherwise, the OKRs may become redundant.

Examples Of OKRs For The Marketing Team

We have listed a few examples below to give you some inspiration for creating OKRs for your marketing team.

Product Marketing OKRs Examples

Objective: Market new product release by developing a marketing message

Key results:

• Carry out a user-testing session with 25 clients to test the new product
• During the release, choose five different channels that will help you share product advertisements
• Provide a free trial to 15 client groups to present the product pitch

Content Marketing OKRs Examples

Objective: Refine blog quality and content to increase readership

Key results:

• Raise the blog subscribers’ total number from 2,000 to 8,000
• Use blog posts to bring a 10% increase in lead generation
• Post four new blog posts weekly

Social Media Marketing OKRs Examples

Objective: Increase engagement on Twitter

Key results:

• Bring a 15% increase in the total number of followers
• Use direct messaging to find and interact with 50 thought leaders
• Start posting four times a day

Wrapping Up

If you have been looking for a solution to assist you in setting, track, and measuring progress, OKRs are your way to go.

Try different OKR tools that may have customizable dashboards. These tools will monitor your progress and help you work towards your goal.