In his article “The Most Important Marketing Metrics” on B2B Marketing Insider, Michael Brenner
outlines several key marketing metrics that every senior marketing manager
should be using to run their business. He argues that if you get just one
metric to present to your CEO and CFO, it should be Return on Marketing
Investment, also known as ROMI. This metric calculates your company’s financial
return on marketing investments, and it’s often helpful to break down your marketing by activities or
channels and identify what brings the most return for your investment. In a
future post we’ll delve into a few more key metrics to consider for your
organization.
If you want to understand the math behind the metrics, or need to educate members of your staff who will be responsible for collecting and analyzing these metrics for you, then I recommend you check out “A Simple Explanation of the Math Behind 7 Common Marketing Metrics”, written by Ryan Ghods and published on the Hubspot website. He argues that whatever role you play in the marketing world, it’s becoming increasingly important that you have an understanding of—and level of comfort with—the math behind the metrics you cite every month.
If you want to understand the math behind the metrics, or need to educate members of your staff who will be responsible for collecting and analyzing these metrics for you, then I recommend you check out “A Simple Explanation of the Math Behind 7 Common Marketing Metrics”, written by Ryan Ghods and published on the Hubspot website. He argues that whatever role you play in the marketing world, it’s becoming increasingly important that you have an understanding of—and level of comfort with—the math behind the metrics you cite every month.
Based on my experience and research, there are three actions that I recommend you take as you incorporate marketing metrics into your organization:
1.
Identify metrics
for survival—Identify the key marketing metrics to track and report to the
C-suite so that you can improve your marketing results and keep your job.
2.
Understand
the numbers behind the numbers—Understand the math behind the metrics so
that you can calculate them with confidence and ease.
3.
Make the
numbers count—Confidently interpret the meaning and relevance of the
metrics and be able to discuss the strategic implications with C-suite
executives.
Today more than ever, it’s critical that you understand the impact of each marketing investment on your organization. If you can’t confidently identify and measure which aspects of your marketing deliver financial returns for your company, then your credibility and influence will suffer. Not to mention your career.
What metrics do you track to improve the performance of your marketing efforts? Which metrics have been the most helpful in improving your business?
About Scott Knudsen
Scott Knudsen is Director of Brand Strategy & Project
Management for Murray Brand Communications, a San Francisco-based marketing
services firm. He is also a graduate student in the Integrated Marketing
Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School. He focuses
on a customer-centric, data-driven integrated approach to
marketing communications that combines marketing analytics with strategy. You
can reach him with questions or comments on Twitter @ScottKnudsen
