When you’re responsible for tracking so many digital marketing metrics, there’s always going to be the million dollar question hanging over your head:
“What data should go in my report?”
Today, we’re tuning in to an article written by agency founder Zuhayr Mallam: How to Create a Digital Marketing Report Your Manager Will Love
Zuhayr writes: “If you can objectively prove—using data—that you helped grow sales X amount by doing Y during a certain period, you will have a much easier time..”
Before we go further, it’s worth mentioning that the article is framed from the perspective of an internal marketing manager at a corporation, but obviously the same principles are going to apply to any agency that’s seeking to demonstrate their worth to their clients. So, we’d like to pose the same question for the agencies reading this: How much easier of a time would you have if your clients always understood that you’re consistently growing their business?
Zuhayr’s article helps us out: “Managers typically don’t want to know the nitty-gritty details about everything you do. They are generally concerned with four basic questions:
- Question 1: How much money are we spending?
- Question 2: How many people are we reaching?
- Question 3: How effective are our marketing efforts?
- Question 4: What is the financial return on our marketing dollars?
If you can help your managers answer these four questions, you will be an invaluable asset.”
One of the key points we like in Zuhayr’s article is that CEO’s don’t need to know about every little task you perform in your marketing efforts. They simply want to know: Is it working and how well? That’s why we always recommend putting your main business objectives at the forefront of your report. If you can overlay that with what you spent to get there, even better.
As we mentioned in our recent article, How to Create Marketing Reports That Engage, including the need-to-know items at the beginning of the report allows the main stakeholders to tune out as the report dives deeper into detail, the further the report goes on. Zuhayr also recommends adding detail by simply answering the four questions above with more information, such as: How did each platform perform in terms of budget, reach, effectiveness, and financial return? If you can show that upfront, we believe it’s much more likely that you will get the message across consistently!