The metrics your Company uses to assess the overall relative efficiency of its marketing & sales initiatives are known as key performance indicators, or marketing KPIs.
Setting KPIs can be a pesky task, especially if you are a new marketer. When setting Marketing KPIs, a few questions will come to your mind, such as: What will be the right KPIs? Which key points should you really care about & which should you let go of?
But don’t worry! I’ll explain to you how your general approach should be when setting marketing KPIs.
Firstly, Have a Plan!
Your KPIs must have a strategy. Without a set plan, you won’t be able to focus & all your efforts will go in vain.
Study your business & your goals before setting a proper strategy. Careful analysis of your customers, competitors, resources, budget, etc., will kickstart your journey in the right direction. So, it is really important to have a solid marketing strategy depending on your resources & objectives.
Finding the Most Important Metric
In the second step, you need to outline your objectives & goals so that you can decide which metrics (key performance indicators) to focus the most upon. Now, there are many metrics to choose from, but you have to keep it super narrow & decide only on a few that will help you achieve your goals.
To name a few KPIs (metrics):
- Customer Retention
- Cost per Acquisition
- Marketing ROI
- Advertising Conversion Rate
- Social Media Engagement
There are way too many to list, so I’ve just mentioned a few examples for you to get the gist of it.
Take a Trip Down Memory Lane
Businesses are different & there is no industry-specific benchmark that you have to follow no industry-specific benchmark. What matters is the quality of the data you have & not the quantity.
Thus, one of the best ways to set marketing KPIs is to look back at history & try to make improvements (for example: increase your engagement rate by 10-15 % in the next quarter).
Consider all the possible areas which can be improved by using your key metrics.
Make it a Perfect Match!
Your key metrics should align with the course of action of your plan.
Let’s say that you intend to blog more frequently because you saw a rise in organic search traffic. Your key performance indicators in this situation should be website visits, blog post views & Google search referrals. You could also mention how many keywords you currently rank for.
When you measure these aspects, you’ll understand what works best for you & which things you could improve on.
Be Realistic in your Approach
I know that it is nice to dream big, but it does not mean you shoot for the stars while aiming at the moon. You have to set realistic marketing KPIs & think about how will you make the most out of your current resources.
Take into account all the data you have, users’ buying behavior & your team’s capabilities in achieving the objective in the set time. You don’t have to get a pat on your back, but you have to make sure that you deliver on your promise. So, be realistic in your approach from the get-go.
If you follow the steps that I’ve mentioned & get the hang of it, you are already on the right track. So don’t worry about delivering & focus on what will work for you.
Pro Tips:
1. You have to constantly keep on asking yourself these 3 questions.
-What is the most important metric you can monitor now?
-What are a few of the most important metrics you can monitor at each funnel stage?
-As your business matures, how will you change your KPIs in the future?
2. Make use of Referrals for building long-term connections with your customers. By doing this, you also increase customer retention & loyalty.
3. Start by tracking the most important KPI instead of tracking everything right from the beginning. Don’t get buried under a huge pile of data. Take your time & gradually increase your tracking efforts.
Conclusion
Every business is unique & so are its marketing KPIs. While using the same strategy as most of your competitors can yield results, it might not always work out for your business. Also, your KPIs might change or modify over time depending on the latest trends & your audience.
I wish you all the best in your business endeavours. Feel free to check out more such informative articles on the Prospectss Blog page. Also, let me know in the comment section if any of my tips worked for you.
