What should a marketing report show a small business owner?
A good monthly marketing report fits on one page and answers four questions: how many inquiries and customers came in, and from which sources; what each source cost; what was done this month and what changed because of it; and what happens next. Traffic and rankings can appear, but only as supporting detail under inquiries and customers.
What belongs on the page
- Inquiries and customers won this month, by source, next to last month.
- What each source cost, and the cost per new customer.
- Time to first reply on new inquiries.
- What was done this month, in plain words.
- What changed: where you now show up, or are mentioned, that you did not before.
- What happens next month, and what the agency needs from you.
Warning signs
- Pages of charts and no mention of inquiries or customers.
- Numbers you cannot trace back to real inquiries.
- A different set of measures every month.
- Credit for customers who would have found you anyway, such as repeat customers or people who already knew your name.
What you should be able to do with it
Read it in five minutes, check any number against your own records, and make one decision: keep, change or stop. If a report does not let you do that, ask for one that does.
Related answers
- How do you know if your marketing is working?
- What is lead attribution, and why does a small business need it?
Lead systems and lead tracking
A lead that waits a day goes cold, and a lead with no source teaches you nothing. Ascent Vision fixes both.