Tiramisu, a coffee-dipped Italian pastry (if you didn’t already know) has been voted as the best desert by the subscribers of a popular entertainment weekly. But all Tiramisu are not created equal. The difference? The Recipe! The Dos and the Don’ts! Similarly, the Successful Strategic Planning steps of OKR has its own Dos and Don’ts. Continue reading the blog and get to know the dos and don’ts that make a Successful Strategic Planning Steps of OKR in marketing.
DOs of Successful Strategic Planning
Align OKRs with Business Goals
The key to effective strategic planning steps with OKRs lies in their alignment with the broader business goals. Once you determine your company’s vision and current position, your Marketing objectives should directly support that. Misalignment between your OKR and your company’s business goals can lead to wasted resources and disjointed efforts. So, ensure that your OKRs reflect the company’s priorities. By doing that, you create a unified direction that drives collective success.
Here is an example of OKR that aligned with the company’s business goals
Business goal: Increase market share.
Objective: Capture larger share of the target audience in the next 12 months
Key Results:
- Increase 25% in brand recall among the target audience by the end of Q4.
- Leverage optimized nurturing campaigns and improve the lead-to-customer conversion rate by 15% by the end of Q4.
- Increase 15% in share of voice (SOV) through thought leadership and PR efforts by the end of Q4.
Set Clear and Measurable Objectives
Whenever you set OKR make sure they are clear and precise because Clarity is key when setting effective OKRs. Vague goals like “improve brand visibility” are hard to measure and even harder to achieve. Instead, define specific, measurable objectives. Clear objectives provide a roadmap for your team and make it easier to track progress. On top of that – measurable key results allow you to evaluate success objectively. Follow these OKR goal setting best practices and soon every one of your employees will understand what success looks like and can work toward it effectively.
Here is an example of clear and measurable OKR:
Objective: Increase website traffic by 20% in Q2.
Key Results:
- Publish 12 blogs with high volume keyword by the end of Q2
- Launch 3 new google ad campaign for 3 high-intent keywords
- Post engaging content 4 times a week in company socials like LinkedIn, and Instagram
Regularly Review and Adjust OKRs
Trust us when we tell you that OKRs are not set in stone. Markets evolve, customer preferences shift, and every day a new opportunity knocks on your door. Regularly reviewing your OKRs, make it monthly or quarterly—helps you stay agile and responsive. And use these reviews to assess progress, identify bottlenecks, and make adjustments.
Here is an example of how an excellently reviewed and adjusted OKR looks like:
Original OKR-
Objective: Increase the brand awareness of the target audience by Q3
Key Results:
- Publish 8 blog post by end of the Q3
- Host 2 webinars with at least 200 attendees
- Attain 50,000 impression on your Linkedin page
Reviewed and Adjusted Marketing OKR due sudden increased potential in the market:
Objective: 3x the audience by Q3
Key Results:
- Publish 10 blog post by end of the Q3
- Host 2 webinars with at least 600 attendees
- Attain 80,000 impression on your LinkedIn page
Ensure OKRs Are Time-Bound
Remember – “Time-bound OKRs create a sense of urgency and focus”, without deadlines, objectives can drag on indefinitely, leading to procrastination and lost momentum. Deadlines help prioritize tasks, allocate resources efficiently, and maintain accountability. Also, they provide a clear endpoint for evaluating success and planning the next steps.
Here is an example of OKR business planning with deadlines:
OKR without deadline: Launch a new product.
OKR with deadline: Launch the new product by the end of Q3.
Learn from Failures
No matter how small it is, recognizing the achievements of your team and company as a whole. This boosts team morale and motivation. Celebrating wins reinforces the value of hard work and encourages continued effort. Also, equally important is learning from failures. If an OKR isn’t met, analyze what went wrong and use those insights to improve future planning.
Here is an example of OKR Successful Strategic Planning by learning from failures:
Key Result that caused failure:
- Publish a blog titled “10 Marketing tips” to improve traffic by the first week of March.
Reason for failure: Not including specific, high-intent keywords to help niche audience.
Optimized OKR:
- Publish a blog titled “5 SEO Strategies for E-Commerce Brands in 2024” to improve traffic by the third week of March.
DON’Ts of Successful Strategic Planning
Don’t Overload with Too Many OKRs
While it’s tempting to tackle multiple goals at once, overloading your team with too many OKRs can lead to burnout and diluted focus. Instead, prioritize a few high-impact objectives that align with your business goals.
Here are 2 OKRs for strategic planning that are overloaded:
Strategic objective 1: Create high-quality in-depth content to establish taught leadership in Q2
Strategic objective 2: Increase content output to double the website traffic by Q2
Don’t Set and Forget OKRs
OKRs require ongoing attention and effort. Setting them at the beginning of the quarter and ignoring them until the end is a recipe for failure. Regular check-ins, progress tracking, and adjustments are essential to keep your OKRs on track.
Here is an example of successful strategic planning where you don’t set and forget OKR:
Key result: Generate 1000 leads with email marketing campaign by Q3
However, if your OKR organizational strategy review shows you only attained 400 leads and there is no improvement, you can modify as below:
Key Result: Increase your lead to 800 by applying a better engaging subject line or redesigned the CTA
Why Synergita OKR?
Synergita OKR has an easy to learn user interface that makes you create OKRs by the book. With features like goal alignment, progress tracking, and real-time analytics, Synergita helps teams stay focused and aligned. You can set, change and review your OKRs easily making your business planning through OKR goal-setting agile and result driven. If are ready to sign up to Synergita OKR right away or if you are yet to make a decision read our article “Goal setting Using OKR A Step-by-Step Guide for OKR Strategy 2025” to know how simple and effective goal setting can be in 2025.