Setting metrics for many marketers is hard. That’s because marketers walk in a world of numerous shades of grey, not just crisp, clear, black, and white (or, eek, red). We can get stuck on financial bottom-line numbers, many of which may not feel within our control to influence. That’s not necessarily true.
Let’s unpack these 4 recommendations when setting marketing metrics that matter to your CEO and executive leadership team:
Know what you are measuring and why.
What do you measure?
Make it a priority.
Report it to your leadership.
1. Know what you are measuring and why. Before you even begin to think about the metrics, ask yourself – What do I learn from this? How will this make my marketing efforts more impactful?
2. What do you measure? First, you must answer: What do you want to achieve? What are your corporate goals? What are your marketing goals? Once you have a clear line on those, then setting your marketing metrics will be clearer.
(If you want to learn more on these elements of a strategic marketing plan, you'll find this blog post helpful Your Strategic Marketing Plan: A Timeframe and Guide)
For example, let’s say that a goal is growth in one (or many) areas of your business. If you look at a financial statement, you’ll see it provides clear growth numbers – in black, white, or red. Marketing metrics may not always translate directly onto the financial statement; however, marketing can have an influence on these numbers.
So, what does this look like?
Marketing can influence the growth numbers by creating marketing-sourced opportunities, such as leads and awareness. These metrics will show that you are ‘bringing the horse to water,’ so to speak. You can measure:
Website landing page views, conversions, and traffic sources.
The number of instances where a meeting is booked as a result of your marketing efforts.
The number of instances where you provided internal support for your member/customer-facing teams.
Social media and email engagement.
You will also look at the financial numbers to help inform as you progress through an initiative. Then, you can see where you need to boost one or more focus areas (such as social media engagement to drive traffic to your website landing page, which converts visitors to action, which results in growth).
Do you see how what you are measuring influences the bottom line?
3. Make it a priority. Let’s be honest: unless you have automated methods for tracking to a consolidated dashboard (which can be costly in some cases), tracking takes time, and tracking for the sake of tracking with no outcome is a waste of effort.
When you have quality metrics to track, don’t leave it to consolidate at the end of a campaign or marketing effort. You should update and review your metrics frequently so that you can pivot on your marketing efforts to fuel the flame to reach the goals BEFORE the campaign/initiative ends.
You also will review your metrics at the campaign/initiative end. This will help to inform you what can be repeated or done differently next time.
4. Report it to your leadership. When you show how your marketing efforts impact corporate goals and priorities, you are building relevance in the marketing work you are doing. This will help you with resources – such as more time, a larger budget, or increased human resources.
Here’s a tip: When you prepare your report or presentation, don’t assume that the reader understands the impact of such things as engagement or click-through rate (by the way, stay far away from acronyms; you’ll notice I did not use CTR). Share it like you are teaching. Explain the measurement, its meaning, and why it’s important to the corporate goals. Your leadership may not be well-versed in marketing – that’s your job. You need to teach as much as you can about the value of marketing at every opportunity you have.
Setting metrics in marketing doesn’t have to be hard. It simply needs to be well thought out. And if you have never done this before, then make this the time to begin. Determine the benchmark metrics by looking at historical results if available, and if not available, use your knowledge of the business and marketplace to make an informed decision. Set your metrics and begin.
I hope you found this inspirational and helpful. If you did, you may find this blog post helpful as well Marketing Metrics are pure gold.
Keep on being amazing,
Lyanne
With a drive to accomplish high-quality results, the marketing work Lyanne has spearheaded in business has been recognized and awarded nationally on several occasions. In addition to this, she proudly holds the Chartered Marketer designation through the Canadian Marketing Association.
After serving 28 years in corporate finance, she emboldened into new territory by striking up a business marketing consulting practice that exists to lighten the load of marketing leaders. Having been a leader in marketing, she appreciates the complexities of the job and the many demands that come with it.
Whether you are interested in learning more about how blue dragonfly can help your business, are interested in joining or learning more about Mastermind groups, would like to chat about a speaking engagement, or just want to meet with Lyanne, this is a great way to get started. Connect today.
Cheers to the beginning of a great relationship.