Understanding OKRs for B2B Marketing
Do you understand how your work contributes to the larger business objectives? Does your company know how your marketing strategy fits within annual and quarterly goals? Does your business have a way to measure and communicate progress and growth that inspires action?
If you aren’t sure of the answer to these questions, your company may need a better framework for setting and achieving goals. Objectives and Key Results, or OKRs, are one such framework that has helped drive growth at companies from large companies, like Intel and Google, to startups and everywhere in between.
What Are OKRs?
The OKR (or Objectives and Key Results) process is a transformative goal-setting framework initially developed by Andrew Grove at Intel, and later popularized by Google. This methodology helps organizations set, track, and achieve ambitious goals by clearly defining measurable outcomes (What Matters: Why OKRs).
OKRs are pivotal for ensuring all team members understand their goals and see how their efforts align with larger business objectives. This framework helps set challenging targets that drive performance and strategic alignment across departments.
OKRs are fundamentally successful because of their simplicity. A typical OKR will look like:
Our Company will do X, as measured by Y.
How to Create Objectives and Key Results
Objectives form the “What” that you are trying to achieve. Successful objectives challenge companies to think BIG and set the right goals for the right reasons. As described in John Doer’s book Measure What Matters, Well-crafted objectives should be:
- Qualitative
- Inspiring
- Unambiguous
- Action-oriented
Your company may have a goal to be seen as a thought leader in your industry. Turning that goal into an Objective can look like:
Our company will transform our digital presence to become the top thought leader in our sector.
On the other hand, Key Results quantify success and are specific, measurable, and directly linked to Objectives. They’re designed to be aggressive yet realistic, providing a clear pathway to achieving strategic goals. In this case, you can build upon your objective with key results such as:
Our company will transform our digital presence to become the top thought leader in our sector, as measured by:
- Key Result 1: Launch a new industry blog and publish 50+ posts that generate at least 100,000 views by the end of the year.
- Key Result 2: Increase website traffic by 200% through SEO improvements and content marketing strategies.
- Key Result 3: Develop and host 10 webinars with an average attendance of 500+ industry professionals per session.
BNP Engage’s Approach to OKRs
At BNP Engage, we integrate OKRs at both the organizational and team levels to ensure aligned efforts toward common goals. We establish objectives annually and review and update key results toward these objectives quarterly. This allows us to adapt and respond to changes as the year progresses. As a result, our strategies stay relevant and timely.
Annual OKR Planning:
- We review the previous year and openly and candidly discuss the successes, failures, risks, and challenges.
- We break out into teams, with each team brainstorming goals and grouping those goals into common themes.
- Executive leadership reviews the goals shared by all teams, consolidates, and prioritizes.
- Executive leadership sets the top 3-4 objectives for the year and decides whether each objective is aspirational or committed.
- An aspirational goal sets the bar for success very high. When seeking to achieve an aspirational goal, success is measured as a percentage toward completion. Even getting 50-70% toward an aspirational goal will demonstrate significant success. Key results may be flexible and change over time.
- A committed goal is ambitious but realistic to achieve. The expectation is that all key results must be met in full and on time.
- 2-4 top key results are set for each objective. Each key result is assigned a single owner, who is responsible for its success.
Quarterly Planning
- Each quarter, we review progress toward the objectives. Progress toward key each result is given a grade, typically measured as a percentage. If a key result was not completed in the defined quarterly timeframe, the reasons why it failed are discussed openly.
- After discussing successes and failures openly, we update key results for the coming quarter, defining what we hope to achieve in the next 90 days.
- Every key result is assigned an owner. Ultimately, the owner of the key result is responsible for ensuring it is measurable, and for creating and enacting the action plan to achieve it.
- The new key results are presented to the whole company to discuss. Everyone is given an opportunity to raise their hand and collaborate on any key result that aligns with their interests, goals, or function.
- Managers review company OKRs with individual team members and seek to align personal and professional development goals so as to contribute toward OKR progress.
Regular Check-ins and Adjustments
Every 2 weeks, all key result owners meet to review progress and discuss whether key results are on track or off track. If key results are off track, the next steps required to get them back on track are discussed and prioritized.
Implementing OKRs in Your Business
For small and medium B2B businesses, OKRs can be particularly effective in driving growth and operational efficiency. They provide a clear framework for scaling efforts and measure your impact along the way.
If you’re ready to transform your strategic planning and drive significant growth, BNP Engage is here to help. Our expertise in implementing and managing OKRs can help drive success for your brand for years to come. Contact us today or connect with us on LinkedIn to get started!