In this episode of Digital Dividends, Mark Jones and Jodie Hilton unpack how to set digital marketing goals that actually support business growth, instead of chasing vague targets, vanity metrics or outcomes that were never realistic in the first place.

The conversation covers SMART goals, marketing funnels, awareness, engagement, conversion, reporting dashboards, sales follow-up and how to tell whether your digital marketing is genuinely working.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why digital goals need to align with business goals?
• Why unrealistic marketing targets cause businesses to fail?
• How to think about awareness, consideration and conversion e
• What a marketing funnel actually looks like in real life?
• Why digital marketing often gets blamed for problems elsewhere in the business
• How to benchmark website conversion rates?
• Why response speed from your sales team matters more than most people realise?
• How to spot weak reporting and bad dashboards?
• The V3C model: volume, value, velocity, and conversion
• How to set better targets over a 30, 60, 90 day planning window. 

This episode is for business owners, marketers, in-house marketing teams and leadership teams who want clearer digital strategy, better marketing KPIs, stronger sales and marketing alignment and more confidence in whether their digital activity is driving real outcomes. If you have ever asked, “Are our digital goals actually realistic?” or “Why is our marketing not translating into results?” this episode is worth your time.

To put this into action, download the YDS 90 Day Sprint Workbook from our website. It helps you turn better digital goals into a practical 30, 60 and 90 day plan.