About Marketing KPIs: Bridging the Gap Between Marketing and Sales ????

This time, let's delve a bit deeper. In my view, there are two types of marketing: awareness and performance—also known as vision and numbers. While they're inseparable, I understand more about the latter. However, I've noticed that most marketing departments focus heavily on the visual part—brand awareness and presentation—and very little on assisting the sales process. This, in turn, reflects on the KPIs set for these departments and what "reports" their work.

Moreover, marketing and sales are not only separate but often don't communicate with each other, pursuing entirely different goals. This is a classic managerial mistake that leads to poor processes, execution, and team communication. ??

I Explain:

When the sales manager is chasing sales, their tools are those provided by marketing—the channels through which they reach potential consumers, right? If there's no advertising, mailing, calling, or communication to the world, no one will know what you're selling. The sales department's job heavily relies on servicing and customizing the process to the marketing persona that marketing is targeting (in the best cases).

So why does the sales department report on sales alone, while marketing talks about the brand? ??♂? Without wanting to be rude, marketing and sales must wear the same hat (strategy) ?? and often should be the same department with aligned KPIs, along with customer service. How else do you talk about user experience? While everyone strives for personalization for the customer, if your departments are chasing different KPIs, don't tell me things are going well... Your processes are likely inefficient, and you don't have a team working in sync towards common goals.

An Example:

I am a marketing person tasked with achieving XXX awareness (read: traffic) with a UU budget, but whether it turns into sales depends on the sales department. To illustrate it crudely: I'll put a famous persona on my ad, with a provocative look and text, and I'll beat my CPI, but whether that persona was the target audience the sales department sells to is entirely up to them. Wait, what?

See the problem? Marketing shouldn't work in isolation pursuing its own KPIs but should align with those of the company, collaborating with other departments. It's much easier to manage and helps build a more successful team rather than siloed departments. ??

The Problem:

By definition, Sales is about closing deals and generating revenue through direct interaction with customers. Conversely, Marketing takes a broader approach—creating awareness, building relationships, and driving long-term sales growth. But if you ask the sales team (especially B2B) what their main goal is with customers, they'll tell you it's building relationships. If you ask a performance marketer what their goal is, they'll say more sales. Wait, what for the second time?

The Solution:

First, we must look for the problem in the company structure and the interrelationships between departments. Then, we need to turn to the company's strategy and how it fits into the individual strategies of the departments. From there, we have to extract the goals that will drive the teams together. This is why managers' bonuses are sometimes tied not only to the achievements of their department but also to those of the company. ??

To direct efforts in one direction, it should be the same for everyone:

• Business Growth (Sales and Service) ??
• Brand Building (Marketing and Service) ???
• Service Excellence (Support, Supplies, Processes, and Service) ???

Why? Because that's usually the goal: to grow the company by building a strong brand and serving more customers, better and efficiently—it's interconnected. Don't start from the metrics—traffic, reactions, time on site, fans, content, etc.—but focus on the persona you're targeting together, the sales channels you're pursuing together, and the results you need to achieve—together. ??

Why?

KPIs are tied to specific goals, while metrics are data points. KPIs are directly tied to strategic objectives and are used for measuring performance against set goals. Metrics, on the other hand, are broader and include various data points used for analysis—but may not directly align with key objectives.

So, KPIs are your overall company-wide bottom-line goals, and the rest are metrics and results of your departmental efforts. It's unfortunate, but in my experience, I've seen that metrics like ROAS and ROI are rarely used. Often, the budget spent isn't tied to the results achieved. I frequently hear from sales departments that "marketing has failed." As long as everything is viewed at the departmental level, things won't change. ??

Examples of KPIs I Follow as a Marketer:

• Revenue ??: Perhaps the most obvious of all sales performance indicators.
• ROI (Return on Investment) ??
• ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) ??
• Number of Opportunities ??
• Conversion Rate ??
• Turnover per Channel and Salesperson ????

But the right KPIs for you are those aligned with your company strategy—keep this traction and think about what you need to know as metrics to help you achieve your company's goals, together with the sales team (and support, delivery, and other teams who have a "relationship" with customers). ??

Don't just chase numbers in isolation; align your teams under a unified strategy and watch your company's growth soar! ??