Digital Marketing KPIs 2021 – As a business owner, you should be interested in how to reach your target audience. Understanding the behaviors, actions, and geographic locations of the visitors who engage on your website is key when it comes to establishing a business marketing plan and deciding where to focus your digital marketing efforts within that plan. This is where key performance indicators become a major factor for you, since they have a direct effect on your marketing objectives.
Digital marketing metrics and key performance indicators (or KPIs) are used by the marketing team of your business to measure and track the performance of your marketing campaign. Your digital marketing team will use several different tools to promote the various product(s) and service(s) your business provides. Tracking the results can be complicated and time-consuming, so they generate specific digital marketing key performance indicators to make it easier and more efficient to measure performance and compare the progress towards set business goals. By tracking the most relevant KPIs for your business, your digital marketing team will be able to measure the most impactful marketing strategies in use. This will enable you to work with your team to make more informed marketing choices and decisions as you grow your business.
So, what, specifically, is a KPI anyways?
Sometimes key performance indicators are confused with business metrics: KPIs must have clear targets and timeframes for achieving those targets, and they must be directly related to specific business outcomes for a company. Metrics are broader: there is no requirement for metrics to have any of those things. (Note: some will have one or a combination, but not all.) A KPI will help your marketing team track and measure business success. It is a quantifiable measure that demonstrates how effectively a business is achieving key objectives over time; it is a measure of the effectiveness of a business organization and its growth and development. Businesses use KPIs to evaluate whether their marketing efforts are proving successful in reaching various business targets. Some KPIs are high-level and focus on overall business performance, while others are low-level KPIs that focus on developments in more specific areas like sales, human resources, client/customer support, etc. Basically, KPIs can be related to any part of your business, from employee performance to marketing and everything in between.
Digital marketing KPIs are a set of measurements that are directly linked to the digital marketing strategy for your business. The focus of your marketing strategy might be on anything from brand awareness and lead generation to sales growth and search engine optimization. Essentially, they include any measurable value that is an actionable component of your online marketing plan. The majority of KPIs that digital marketers strategically include are data-driven; they include data such as a company’s
- Web traffic sources
- Ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs)
- Website traffic leads
- Client/customer engagement rates
- Returning visitors
- Click-through rates
- Lead conversion rates
- Online sales revenue reports
- Total revenue reports
- And more!
Why do you need to track KPIs?
You need your digital marketing team to track the KPIs for your business to gain a clear picture of what elements of your marketing strategy are working and which ones are not working. This will allow you to focus on the areas of your marketing plan that bring about the greatest return on investment (ROI) for your business.
How do you choose the best KPIs?
Note that the best KPIs for one company to track are not necessarily the same for another. To choose the best KPIs for your business, you need to work with your professional digital marketing team to determine your overall business goals first; then you can establish that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely (sometimes referred to as S.M.A.R.T. indicators). This is what makes each KPI effective at inspiring action. Starting with the overarching goals you have for your business, with an understanding of what your main objectives are for business success and how you plan on achieving those goals is extremely important. When determining which KPIs you need to measure, you and your marketing team should consider whether the data you gather from each KPI is going to provide useful insight in terms of improving the bottom line of your business. That is if the KPI is one on which someone cannot take action, it is likely what marketing professionals often call a “vanity metric” (e.g., the number of Facebook “likes” or Twitter followers your business has); vanity metrics are empty and have little to no worth when it comes to the bottom line. They are not effective KPIs and, as such, do not need to be tracked.
The particular combination of KPIs that your digital marketing team will track is dependent upon the nature of your business in general, and the specific channels you want to target with your digital marketing campaigns. Some of the most significant categories that apply to most businesses include search engine optimization (SEO), social media networks, website and blog content (i.e., content marketing). Digital marketing KPIs in these areas (and others) allow your marketing team to set specific expectations and goals tailored to your business, and then to demonstrate the positive impact and effectiveness of the marketing methods being used to achieve those goals.
Are you interested in learning more about KPIs in the context of your digital marketing plan? Do you need help creating and implementing effective digital marketing strategies for your business? Eye See You Now can help! Eye See You Now (ESYN) is an Austin, Texas-based digital marketing company, focused on enhancing your online presence and overall digital footprint. The professional team at ESYN specializes in search engine optimization (SEO); they will use SEO and other proven digital marketing methods to help increase the visibility and credibility of your business and boost your overall bottom line. The ESYN professionals are ready to assist you with all your digital marketing needs, whether your business is based in Texas or anywhere else in the world. Please contact ESYN online for a free consultation with our team of skilled SEO experts or call 512-370-4078.
Written by: Erika Mehlhaff