In a bygone era, marketing gained a reputation for being a bit of a loosey-goosey, less-than-precise pursuit. Divining an accurate ROI from newspaper ads, pump toppers, billboards, radio spots and the like was anybody’s guess.
Murky marketing guesstimations have something in common with the dodo bird: They don’t fly anymore. The dodo’s demise on the island of Mauritius came with the arrival of invasive species and ravenous 17th-century Dutch sailors tired of eating boot leather. For fuzzy marketing statistics, their extinction is tied to the explosion of marketing and digital tech.
Today you can measure, track, and turn just about any kind of meaningful marketing metric into a tangible report. There’s no excuse not to present hard data now. It’s never been easier to provide tangible proof that what you’re doing is working. Or not.
However, just because you can track everything doesn’t mean you should. You have limited time and resources at your disposal. And some stats simply aren’t as important as others.
Therefore, it’s imperative to gain a consensus on what the most important marketing metrics are to you, your team, and your organization.
This, of course, begs the million-dollar question: what should you track? Enter the marketing scorecard.
Here’s how to create one.
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STEP 1: DEFINE YOUR GOAL
To begin crafting your personalized scorecard, ask yourself “What am I trying to accomplish?”
Some nice goals might include…
- Demonstrating the value of your efforts
- Uncovering insights for optimization
- Sparking team motivation
Identifying what exactly it is you’re trying to accomplish lays the foundation for the rest of your scorecard.
Next, pinpoint and clarify “Who exactly is this report for?”
Is it for..
- C-Suite
- Marketing team
- Sales team
- Product teams
- Regional teams
Determining who a report is for can direct you in what stats to track and how to present your findings. A report for your CFO, for instance, might be more of a numbers-heavy spreadsheet, while your CEO might prefer more of a visual report. Or maybe your team just wants bullet points comparing year-over-year ROI, monthly lead generation figures, content downloads, or whatever the case may be.
Before compiling scorecard data, consider your audience and tailor each report accordingly.
Finally, you’ll need to determine “What metrics, stats, or numbers does your target audience care the most about?”
Break down your data and demarcate different buckets according to…
- Revenue
- Branding
- Sales support
- Product development
- Research
- Events and trade shows
- Lead generation
- Budget/spend
- Region or location support
- Product support
Take the time to ask your bosses, colleagues, and relevant internal departments what marketing metrics matter most to them, and in what formats they prefer to receive information.
Ask yourself the following questions and determine the answers: Overall, the goal of my scorecard is to _________________ for __________________
by measuring ___________________________________________.
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STEP 2: DEFINE WHAT YOU CAN TRACK
Revenue
What revenue metrics can you track and present in a meaningful way?
- Total Revenue From Leads
- Value Per Lead
- Close Rates
- Cost Per Lead
- ROI
What levels of detail do you want to present?
- By Campaign
- By Market Segment
- By Region or Location
- By Product or Product Group
Events and Trade Shows
What event metrics can you track and present in a meaningful way?
- Total Leads and Revenue
- Meetings Set
- Branded Search & Website Traffic
- Percentage of Show Audience Captured
How do you want to divvy up your reports?
- By Event
- By Market Segment
- By Region or Location
- By Product or Product Group
Branding
How do you plan to quantify your branding efforts?
For email, consider:
- New Subscribers
- Opens Rates
- Click-through Rates
For website traffic, you can measure:
- New vs Returning Visitors
- Time on Site
- Form Submissions
Elsewhere for branding, you can track:
- Increased Engagement
- Social Reach and Activity
- Branded Search Volume & Traffic
- Press (are you using Google Alerts?)
- Surveys on Awareness
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SCORECARD TIPS
As you create your scorecard, try to do these things:
- Tie it to revenue as closely as possible.
- Give yourself a benchmark. Are you winning or losing?
- Keep it simple and visual.
- Keep it visible.
- Send it out on a regular schedule.
- Be proactive about involving other internal stakeholders. Asking for feedback, keeping people in the loop, and providing relevant, helpful information will increase buy-in and interdepartmental collaboration.
- Automate as much as you can.
On the other hand, some dont’s:
- Get too detailed.
- Use complicated metrics.
- Provide metrics no one else cares about.
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MEASURING SUCCESS
Developing a marketing scorecard is a tremendous way to boost awareness of what your team has accomplished, and what campaigns you have coming up. It can be a powerful internal communications tool and a silo wrecking ball.
As for a good measure of success, you’ll know you have a successful scorecard when people actually read it and comment on it! But in order for this to happen, you need to make it relevant and useful for your intended audience.
Actively involving people outside your inner circle and incorporating their insights into your efforts will make your marketing that much better. Providing a consistent, clear, concise scorecard is a great vehicle to make this happen.
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