KPIs are essential to any skilled business or marketing professional. Also referred to as Key Performance Indicators, KPIs are used to evaluate business success across several different levels. Marketing professionals should know that KPIs are distinct from business metrics in that they are defined in highly specified ways. KPIs should reflect core objectives that are distinct to the business or company.
KPIs are important in that they’re used to focus on three different things: what a company’s objectives are, how these objectives can be achieved, and who the people are that can act on the objectives. Importantly, one of the central aspects of KPIs is that they are reflective. They are used to define how progress towards business objectives are measured, and how success can be defined.
KPIs are relevant to digital marketing careers in many key ways. Marketing professionals can assist in analyzing where a business is lacking and help to define KPIs that can address the situation. They are also adept at tracking the efficacy of a business in meeting its KPIs. Read on to learn more about effectively using KPIs during your digital marketing career.
Using the SMART Framework to Create KPIs
KPIs are essentially communication tools. They should be concise and coherent and consist of information presented in a clear and relevant way. This is where the expertise of professionals with digital marketing training can come in. Digital marketers are experts at analyzing information and compressing it into frameworks that translate it into actionable insights.
When working to create KPIs for a company, digital marketers can attempt to use the SMART framework. This is a set of constraints frequently used in the business world when creating KPIs. It’s an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These are attributes that should be embodied by any KPIs that are put into place, in order to make them as effective as possible.
Pros with Digital Marketing Training Know to Evaluate and Re-Evaluate KPIs
Graduates who attain a digital marketing diploma know that one of the most important tasks of the digital marketer is analysis or assessment. Digital marketers are constantly evaluating a business to assess how effective a marketing campaign is, looking to see if search engine rankings have improved, or if a certain amount of conversion has been achieved.
KPIs can only be effective if they are monitored for success. An adept digital marketing professional will consistently re-evaluate KPIs to assess their effectiveness. A plan should be put into place upon launching a KPI to determine how often it will be revisited, and what metrics should be used as determinators of the relative success of the KPI.
KPIs Are Meant to Be Communicated
The bulk of a digital marketer’s job is bound up in communication. KPIs are not exempt from this, and should be treated primarily as tools used to communicate objectives within a company. A digital marketer shouldn’t help produce a KPI and then sit on it quietly. It’s important that KPIs are shared with the wider company and any relevant stakeholders.
All relevant parties should be made aware of KPIs so that they can be collectively worked towards, and so that feedback can be provided as necessary. Importantly, KPIs should be communicated so that responsibility for achieving them or assessing their efficacy can be delegated throughout the relevant parties. The progress towards a KPI should be a collective endeavour.
Do you want to learn more about effectively using KPIs while attending digital marketing school?
Contact Cumberland College for more information.
