As a business owner, you’ll want to know where your budget is spent, especially for your marketing. You want to know what is working and make sure the money isn’t going towards a dead-end street with no return on investment (ROI).
But how can you see what is working and what isn’t? Through marketing reports.
Marketing reports can be a great way to see how your budget is spent. Marketing reports give you the information to test your strategy, evaluate, and course-correct, if necessary.
However, marketing reports can be brutal.
The problem with these documents is that they’re often filled with 8-10 pages of numbers, some of which may not matter in terms or value. Usually, you’ll have to sift through data just that you can figure out which “gold mine” metrics matter.
And the worst part about marketing reports? Marketing reports don’t show you the specific ads, keywords, etc., that drive results. So you are left with questions and a lack of information on how to improve your campaigns.
In fact, marketing agencies are guilty of providing these long reports for their clients, but why?
Because it’s easier for them. Streamlined reports take less time and can easily be automated. And while these reports are time-effective for marketing agencies, streamlined reports may not necessarily be adapted to you and your marketing needs, making you more confused.
How do you stop this and get transparency in your marketing reports? Here are a few tips to make sure you get clear information from your marketing reports:
- Make sure your ads are being run on YOUR ad accounts.
Make sure to run your ads on YOUR ad account, not the agency’s or a third-party vendors’ dashboards. That way, you’ll have control over access to your ad account and to your ad data.
- Ask to see bottom-line numbers which impact your business.
Marketing reports should consider which performance metrics matter to your business based on your goals and create a list of the ones that make the most sense to report on.
You can start with numbers and metrics like real leads, meaningful conversions, scheduled appointments, email subscribers, things added to the cart, etc. Overall, make sure that that data tells a story.
- Make sure you’ve clarified what those meaningful metrics are and why they matter.
Once you clarify what those important metrics are, they will help you get the information you need to make informed decisions about your marketing strategies and drive business growth.
If you want to take your reporting process to the next level and make things simpler, we’ve developed a KPI dashboard that can help track progress towards MEANINGFUL digital marketing goals. While it was designed with jewelry companies in mind, anyone can use it!
And if you need some help getting started on your marketing, schedule a free strategy session with our team at High Level Thinkers!
