If you’re looking to make your marketing strategy – and the actions put it into motion – as powerful as possible, then your monthly marketing reports can do just that. With these in your arsenal, you’ll know just how well your strategy is (or isn’t) working, providing you with a stack of insights you can use to strengthen your approach from month to month.

But with all the different elements involved in putting your strategy into motion, how do you know what to include in these reports? Along with a downloadable marketing report template, we’ll show you the key ingredients you should be throwing into your monthly marketing reports. 

Quick Navigation

• Why are marketing reports so important?
• What reporting tools can I use?
• What should you include in your marketing report?
• Download your monthly marketing report templates

Why are marketing reports so important?

Marketing reports are no mere formality to tick off at the end of each month. In fact, they’re a bit of a game changer – to put it lightly. If it’s success you’re after, then you should really be putting some respect on the monthly marketing report’s name, because it can provide you and your team with the following…

They display your ROI

Want to know if the money, time, and effort you’re pouring into your marketing is paying off? A monthly marketing report will be able to tell you. ROI can sometimes be hard to prove, especially where the more qualitative aspects of your marketing are concerned. By focusing on the right things, your reports can show you the return your marketing is generating, which in turn shows you the areas you should continue investing in.

They track the success of your marketing activity

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. Often misattributed to Albert Einstein, there’s a reason we’re invoking this quote with regards to marketing reports. It’s because after putting in all that work over the past month, a report can show whether or not your graft has been worth it (and whether you might be clinically insane).

If things aren’t working, a report will show you – at which point you make the necessary adjustments to your strategy and start doing things that will work.

They help with future decision making

If you’re looking to move your strategy into a certain area, or focus on a particular activity over others, then a marketing report can ground your decision-making in hard data and insights. Basically, the numbers don’t lie and it’s hard to argue with facts and figures that point to previous successes.

They keep stakeholders and clients informed

Those same facts and figures are going to come in handy when you need to present results to others. In the case of stakeholders, positive results across your reports can add some serious muscle if you need to get buy-in for future activity. For clients in need of results, reports make everything clear. They won’t have the time for complex jargon; a report sums things up in a simple, easily understandable way. And that’s going to be vital for keeping them on your side.

What reporting tools can I use?

There’s no shortage of useful tools that can make sense of your data and activity. And since you won’t have the time to collect everything yourself, reporting tools are an absolute essential. Let’s take a look at what you can use…

Google Analytics

If you haven’t been harnessing the power of Google Analytics’ reporting capabilities, then it’s pretty much a must. In-depth and extensive, you’ll have seven different types of reports at your fingertips, including:

Real-time report: A moment-to-moment view of activity on your website and apps, recorded in seconds. A great way of seeing how people are reacting to any campaigns and updates you’ve made.

Audience report: Want insight into your users? An audience report can help with that, highlighting key demographics, the type of devices they’re using, and whether they’re gaining or losing interest in you – as well as a ton of other info.

Analytics Acquisition report: Where did your users first find you? Was it through Google? Did another website bring them to you, or maybe they landed on you thanks to Facebook? With this insight, you’ll then be able to create and optimise channel-specific campaigns.  

Content report: A content report breaks down how well things like your blog posts, landing pages and other site content is doing, unearthing key info on traffic, conversions, and the last page users visited before they bounced from your site.  

Site speed report: A three-second wait for a site to load doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s all it takes for users to leave if it takes any longer. A site speed report provides you with a detailed analysis of individual page performance, highlighting which pages are dragging their heels – so you can get to work improving them.

Site Search: Got a search bar on your site? Site Search can track how often it’s used, the terms searched, the pages they’re starting their searches from and everything from downloads and link clicks to form submissions and video plays (which Google Analytics calls Events).

Conversion report: How is all your activity translating into conversions? And are those conversions sales or leads? Whether it’s a purchase or simply a specific interaction you want to happen (such as the viewing of a video), a conversion report provides all the details.

SEO tools

Tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, Moz and Google Search Console all have in-depth report creation capabilities at very affordable prices, so you can get the scoop on keyword performance, competitor analysis and site health, which you can schedule to be sent to both team members and clients on a basis that suits them.

CRM tools

MailChimp, Bloom and Hubspot, among plenty of others, all come with a range of reporting features that can optimise your sales team’s activities, including creating probabilities of deals pulling through, and how much these deals will benefit your bottom line. HubSpot’s basic plan is free, which makes it a great option to start your CRM reporting with.

Social media tools

As well as scheduling in your social media posts, tools like HootSuite, Buzzsumo and Hubspot can show you how you’re performing across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. By comparing channel performance, as well as unlocking insights into audience, session lengths and impressions, all of which you can use to strengthen your social presence.

What should you include in your marketing report?

Every company or brand’s marketing reports will be different – they’ll have their own specific goals and metrics, after all – but there are a few must-haves which you should most definitely be including in them. Here’s what we recommend featuring…

KPIs and Goals

To know how well you’re doing, you’ll need KPIs to measure your performance from month to month. These will differ across your campaigns, as they’ll relate to particular goals – which you should also include as a reminder of what everyone’s working towards. This gives your report focus from the get-go, and lets everyone know how their efforts are contributing to the ultimate aim.

The comparison between your goals and your results will also underline whether or not you need to make the necessary adjustments before it’s too late.

Overview of activity

A clear, top-level summary of your highlights gets everyone reading the report clued in and up to speed, providing the main points which you’ll expand on in more detail later on. This also helps anyone who may not be as in the know about marketing a chance to understand what you’ve been up to.

Organic marketing data

Any figures and info that relate to activities that naturally bring visitors to your website, such as blog posts, unpaid social media posts, newsletters and, of course, SEO should be detailed here.

Paid advertising data

Any paid campaign results should be highlighted here, along with key metrics for each channel, such as Cost Per Conversion, Click-Through Rate, Impressions, Ad Spend and ROAS (return on ad spend).

Email marketing data

Here, you’ll show how your web traffic converts into subscribers and leads, showcasing the progress your outreach is making, the messaging that packs the most punch with your audience, who’s been engaging with you, and which products and services are proving the most popular.

You should also collate the number of emails sent, how many were opened, and any new subscribers (and un-subscribers for that matter) as well as things like bounce rate and Click-Through-Rate.

Social channels data

If you convert customers directly from social media, then include any data that relates to this too, including numbers of followers, engagements and impressions, shares, ad performance and audience demographics. Metrics like this help you know how your audience is responding to your messaging and campaigns.

Learnings and future actions

With your data detailed, you should finish up your reports with takeaways, conclusions, and next steps. If things didn’t go as you expected, mention what you’ll do to address them. If they did, then note what you’ll do to build on them. Open up the floor to your audience too; mention that you welcome any feedback – your audience might have picked up on things or come to conclusions that you maybe missed.

Download your monthly marketing report templates

If you’ve found the above helpful, then we’ve got two downloadable resources to give your marketing reports a shot in the arm. First up, check out our marketing report template that you can fill in with your key metrics.

While our marketing campaign report cover sheet lets you keep your KPIs, goals, overview, summary, and future actions in one simple, easily editable place.

Don’t have the time to keep track of your digital marketing? We’d be happy to take care of it for you instead! Head to our homepage or call us on 0345 459 0558 to see how we can help boost growth, improve digital performance, and get that ROI paying off properly!