In the music industry, it can be extremely competitive on the journey to reaching success, and artists always need to stay prepared along the way through goal setting. While most artists identify and become fixated on their career destination, it leaves room for disorganization if the right steps to get there aren’t thoughtfully developed and implemented.
Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals is an extremely beneficial tool that artists can use to plan out campaigns and execute their goals that will lead to their aspired accomplishments. These goals break down every venture an artist and their team needs to remain focused on in order to arrive at their final destination to their dreams. From increasing music streams and views to obtaining a larger reach and following, artists can secure success through this seamless step system.
Take a look below to learn more about S.M.A.R.T. Goals and why they are essential for artists.
What are S.M.A.R.T. Goals?
S – Specific
“What do I want to do or accomplish?”
The first step to establishing your S.M.A.R.T. goal is to get as specific as possible. Make sure your ultimate goal lays out exactly who, what, when, where and why you want to reach your end result. The more specific your goals are, the easier it is to strategize a pathway to achieving them. If your goal lacks specificity, it will be more difficult to determine and measure its success.
M – Measurable
“How will I know when I’ve accomplished or reached it?”
Identify how to track each goal’s progress and what will determine that a goal has been met. For artists, streams, views or social media engagement may be the more common metrics used. Typically, a measurable goal references to a campaign’s KPI statistics.
A – Actionable
“How will I do it?”
Your goal needs to be attainable and reasonable to your brand, as well as your current reach. As an artist with no music publicly released, it may not be an actionable goal to expect one million Spotify streams on your first single release. Once you identify the goals that will lead to success, making a list of action steps to be taken in order to achieve each goal.
R – Relevant
“Why is this important for my brand?”
Having a clear understanding of what types of goals work best for your brand is another strategy within itself. What may work for one artist may not work for another with a similar reach or audience. It’s also essential to strategize a proper balance, as many artists make the mistake of having too many goals set at once. A helpful tip to follow in making this goal is the 80/20 rule, asking, “Which are the 20% of goals that will provide me with 80% of my return?”
T – Time-Bound
“When do I want this accomplished?”
Setting a specific timeline of when you want each goal to be accomplished not only helps with organization, but also established accountability. By naming a specific date or time in which a goal should be achieved allows for an artist to feel a concrete commitment to that goal. Sometimes, there may not be a specific date for this goal, but a specific quota that needs to be met, such as gaining a certain amount of followers on a specific social media platform.
The Importance of Goal Setting
Creating goals around a campaign or release for an artist offers them organization while they are on the path to their music success. Goals help create a roadmap that lead an artist’s dreams to their destination when their hard work and dedication prevail. By setting specific, attainable goals with a particular timeline, artists also create their own stamp of accountability that will encourage them to reach success. Establishing a concrete list of goals produces an incentive for artists that will make reaching success even more fulfilling.
When To Set Goals
It’s important to set many kinds of goals throughout your career as an artist as different milestones are reached, but the most essential time to set goals is at the beginning of a new campaign. Whether an artist is releasing a music video, a new single, new merchandise, or taking part in a social media campaign, S.M.A.R.T. Goals should be set prior to launch.
Examples of S.M.A.R.T. Goals
S.M.A.R.T. Goals for a Music Video Campaign
- Specific:
- Introduce the artist and their music to a cold audience by establishing an awareness campaign
- Build a scaleable warm audience on social media platforms
- Introduce the artist and their music to a cold audience by establishing an awareness campaign
- Measurable
- Acquire 100,000 views within 3 months
- Obtain 1,000 new subscribers in 3 months
- Achieve Conversion Rate goal of 5%
- Reach and maintain engagement rate of 3% (Likes/Comments)
- Actionable
- Launch Tik-Tok and IG Reels influencer marketing campaign with 5 influencers with audiences similar to artist’s targeted audience
- Partner with a marketing company (example: Tunespeak) to host a giveaway to increase video shares
- Launch a user-generated content campaign that encourages Facebook, Instagram and Twitter users to participate in visual meme campaign
- Relevant
- Accomplishing a conversion rate goal of 5% will build subscriber community
- Will assist in our eligibility to join the YouTube Partner Program
- Time-Bound
- 35,000 views per month
- 1,000 new subscribers in 3 months
S.M.A.R.T. Goals for an Album Campaign
- Specific:
- Nurture a warm audience that will purchase and stream the album and purchase merchandise
- Measurable
- Acquire an average of 50,000 monthly listeners on a streaming platform for 3 months
- Acquire 1 million streams within 6 months
- 2,000 album purchases within the week after release
- Actionable
- Run an ad campaign on retargeting audiences on Facebook, Instagram, Google & YouTube to stream or purchase the album on DSPs
- Produce engaging video content to be shared on social media
- 1-minute videos for IG
- Q&A on IG Live (re-shared to IGTV or as clips for IG Reelz)
- Run an ad campaign targeted to current audience in order to produce conversions with merch purchases
- Relevant
- The most relevant goal is to reach our album purchase number of 2,000 units, as it will increase the chances of charting.
- Time-Bound
- 166,666 collective streams per month
- 285 album purchases per day during the week of release
Take some time to draft your S.M.A.R.T Goals for your upcoming single/album release, music video, or merch drop. Then hold yourself accountable as you execute campaign.
