We rarely write about metrics in this newsletter.
There’s just so much content around that already.
And honestly, most content on metrics isn’t unique enough to be all that inspiring.
But this is different.
Today we’ll present three marketing metrics that nobody’s talking about the way we do.
We’ll show you how these three metrics specifically map to customer acquisition, which obviously continues to be everyone’s biggest challenge in 2024.
A bit of context first – we have updated our take on what Marketing is even supposed to do:
Nope, it’s not all about pipeline and revenue. That’s a byproduct. We don’t optimize for that.
We optimize for compounding effects.
This is the one thing Marketing is uniquely positioned to deliver.
As marketers, we want to build systems that create more opportunities than one-off efforts can produce.
No other functional area can do that.
Let Sales close deals one by one to drive that revenue.
If we get to the right kind of compounding effects, we’ll create more than enough opportunities for Sales to drag enough deals across the line.
By the way, compounding effects has been confused with everything from “viral” and “brand” to “demand creation” over the years.
But rather than going down any of those rabbit holes, we need to zoom out just a bit.
Think about the value of getting to results in a way that feeds itself.
And in order to be effective, we need a framework for understanding what kind of compounding effects we’re seeking and what goes into getting there. What does it take?
That’s where these growth loops we’ve been talking about come in.
And the formula… You remember the elements, right?
- What is the primary distribution into our audience that builds consumption habits?
- How can we drive our audience to aha moments around our brand narrative?
- And how can we deliver the core value of our offering pre purchase?
This kind of approach to driving growth is what you’ll wanna keep in mind when reading about these three metrics.
Alright, ready? Let’s start with a quick overview:
(Btw, this is especially relevant to a sales-led motion supported largely by paid media.)
1. RETARGETING AUDIENCE GROWTH
What: The number of relevant buyers that have been to your website in the past 180 days.
How: Measure this number monthly by looking up your ICP audience combined with an 180 website visitor audience.
2. ENGAGED NARRATIVE TRAFFIC
What: The number of people spending time on the page that presents your brand narrative.
How: Google Analytics 4 calls “engaged traffic” someone spending 10+ seconds on the page (ideally a Start Here page)
3. BASIC CORE VALUE MOMENTS
What: Inbound volume because talking to Sales is the main way buyers can experience the core value of most B2B companies.
How: Demo Requests or Talk to Sales (or completed discovery calls).
Now let’s look at why these metrics are so important. This is the stuff…
Why Retargeting Audience Growth
This is by far the most meaningful metric to measure day one and try to move as your first compounding result in marketing.
Are you actually increasing the number of relevant buyers that are looking at you?
What if this number was growing at 10% per month every month? What would that do to the rest of your marketing metrics?
The “solution” can't forever be spend more or do more.
This number must be a QUALIFIED view of your retargeting, which means you add on filters with your retargeting audience to ensure you're building a highly qualified retargeting audience.
Now track this number month after month. Is it growing at all? Is it flat?
If you're like 99% of the B2B companies we audit, this number is flat and has been flat for a long time, indicating no compounding results. All the while goals keep going up. Sheesh!
Now think of this number as a key component of your distribution. How do we grow this number? What if this was the goal of your marketing over the next 90 days?
Here’s what it looks like:
Why Engaged Narrative Traffic
Are buyers reaching your aha moments? And if so, are they sharing those moments AKA giving you a compounding effect?
If they are, you should see engaged narrative traffic increase.
But if you’re not, how confident should you still be in your narrative? It’s possible the narrative is right of course, but you’d want to really check in on that.
Assuming you don’t need to start over on narrative, it’s time to start working methodically on how to get the compounding effect out of it, especially if you’re having success with distribution.
So then the question becomes:
How do you get more of your buyers to this narrative that speaks to your buyers’ world?
What are the takeaways and shareable moments in the narrative strong enough to create a compounding effect?
Is it easy for buyers to digest the narrative and share it with others?
Is this traffic declining? Staying flat? Increasing? Increasing indicates that you’re building a compounding effect over time.
This becomes your aha moment lens. You're creating one universal loop now.
Growing your retargeting metric focuses you on distribution, which feeds into aha moments, which you measure via engaged narrative traffic for compounding effects.
This is where the bar is:
Buyers can browse your website all they want, but are they getting to something that can truly get them to see their reality differently and actually share that?
Why Basic Core Value Moments
Now with growth in retargeting plus growth in aha moments, you can build the last component of your universal loop with the simplest moment for buyers to experience your core value: inbounding to speak with a rep.
This number will struggle to grow without the first two components.
But if those two numbers are growing and building towards compounding effects, you should have growth in your core value moment.
You can also now figure out how to optimize for compounding effects around your core value moment. Can you add more of them? Can you create moments that drive a compounding result?
Now, of course inbound volume is an indicator of overall marketing success.
But when you see it through the lens of core value moments, you’ll start thinking about how to create other core value moments beyond a buyer having to talk to Sales.
You’ve heard people talk about the need for Marketing to create experiences, right?
Well, core value moments are the ultimate experiences, and there’s lots of room for innovation here. Just imagine what we’d come up with if we truly prioritized giving buyers a real taste of our offering before they buy.
To be clear, we’re not necessarily saying these are the most important metrics.
In fact, these metrics are super basic. So basic that the “data-driven marketers” out there will likely laugh at us for writing all this.
But here’s what we are saying:
You might be stuck in the funnel for now, but with very little effort, looking at these metrics this way will give you a taste of the formula and growth loops.
It’s a different view that brings new insights around the health of your business from a growth standpoint. And it doesn’t take much work.
Bottom line… As marketers, we always have to ask ourselves:
What’s the next big thing we need to focus on?
What’s the highest impact work we can do?
This might help you see that for your business right now. We hope that it will.
Here’s to you taking action on that!
- Your partners in growth at Elevate Demand