Writing a marketing report is an obvious extension of any communications initiative or marketing campaign.
However, a marketing report should not be confused with a marketing plan, which outlines the strategy and approach. In contrast, a marketing report has a diagnostic function, intending to monitor progress or report on status. The marketing report will seek to analyze the success of the proposed marketing tactics, as well as suggest how they can be enhanced. Therefore, when the marketing team puts together regular reports, they need to ensure they are tailored towards the specific client and their goals. Subsequently, it is essential that clients are included in the reporting process. The marketing executives need to make sure that the client understands the data and has the opportunity to ask questions.
It is this aspect of a marketing report that makes it such a critical tool; they provide an important path to provide transparency. This is not only for clients but for the wider organization. With a democratized approach to the marketing process, a business can ensure that the sales and marketing team have an integrated strategy. Furthermore, these reports make sure that C-levels and executives have the information they need to make informed decisions. In this article, we explain how to construct a concise and effective marketing report, so every stakeholder can benefit from a transparent approach to reporting.
1. Executive summary and recommendations
Everyone is busy – so it is essential that reporting is concise and to the point. Therefore every good marketing report will begin with a short paragraph or bulleted list of completed objectives. For instance, did the marketing team launch a new social campaign or optimize the website? Although the explanation should be concise, ensure it is complete. Clients, particularly, will be keen to see what is being accomplished.
After this introduction, the report should quantify the results of these efforts. This could include statistics about reach, website traffic, lead generation, and conversion rates. Ensure these metrics are specific to the goals laid out in the marketing plan. However, the author of the report should make sure that they balance jargon and statistics with legible information. This is an important way to make sure the client can fully comprehend what has been achieved. After all, a high-level overview can only lead to action if it clearly illustrates successes and failures.
The final part of the introductory section should make recommendations about future activity. For instance, is there a campaign that requires more attention, or should the team focus on lead generation? Once again, these points should be presented clearly so the client can digest the information quickly. When relevant information is laid out in a concise format, the team can work together to make more agile decisions.
2. Monthly highlights
Statistics and charts are a critical component of any robust marketing report. These visualizations are essential to illustrating overall trends and contextualizing campaigns. For example, marketers should pull data from Google Analytics to summarize the events and goals associated with web traffic. These trends can be compared month-to-month or year-on-year, so clients can clearly see how strategy is impacting conversions. To illustrate, a client may want to drive visitors to a particular page to purchase an exclusive product. Marketers can use Google Analytics to create a dashboard with the following metrics:
-
- Website visitors, segmented into returning visitors and unique visitors
-
- Traffic source and medium
-
- Number and duration of sessions
-
- Click-throughs and event tracking
-
- Product revenue by channel
From here, marketers can drill down into these data even further and analyze other month-on-month metrics:
-
Leads by source, including offline sources, social media, referrals, paid search, and email marketing referrals
-
- Leading landing pages
-
- Paid vs. organic leads
-
- Page views
-
- Marketing reach, broken down by channel
However, whatever indicators the team use, it is important that the client has a point of reference. Therefore, metrics should always be presented alongside historical data to provide context. With this information, they can better understand which campaigns deliver the maximum impact.
3. Channel-specific campaigns
The closing chapter of the report should analyze channel-specific marketing campaigns. These can include metrics from any channel or strategy, including social media, email marketing, website optimization, pay-per-click campaigns, or advertising. It is important that the report covers each campaign individually, so it is clear where improvements need to be made. For instance, if the team observe that one channel is not meeting the client’s goals, then it needs to be reviewed, enhanced, or eliminated. Below are some metrics to track for each kind of online campaign. Although these lists are not comprehensive, they give marketers a foundation to work from.
Social media:
-
- Number of followers and percentage increase over the timescale
-
- Interaction and engagement, including likes, comments, retweets, and replies
-
- Post reach
-
- Followers demographics
Helpful tools: Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, Instagram Insights, Google Analytics.
SEO:
-
- Improved page rankings
-
- Improved keyword rankings
-
- Number of external links to your website
-
- Domain authority
-
- Search breakdown by engine
-
- Pages with crawl issues
- Helpful tools: Google Ads, Google Analytics.
Email marketing:
-
- Open rate
-
- Click-throughs
-
- Number of forwards
-
- Bounce rate
-
- Opt-outs
- Helpful tools: Constant Contact, MailChimp, Campaign Monitor
Pay-per-click advertising:
-
- Click-through rate
-
- Top-performing keywords
-
- Average cost-per-click
-
- Conversion rate
A comprehensive marketing report: The key to an enhanced strategy
As this quick guide clearly illustrates, drawing up a marketing report should not be an excessively demanding process. Marketing departments should identify a system that works for them and their clients, as it is likely that the team will have to report incrementally. Furthermore, it is essential for both the client and senior management to see all the data presented in a clear and legible format. They want to see the results quantified, and quickly. Therefore, it is critical that the metrics are visible. Marketing data is useful to various aspects of an organization beyond marketing and sales. After all, by comparing and contrasting data from multiple sources, employees can make connections they would not otherwise make.
