Track What Matters: Measure Marketing in Ways That Move You Forward

Just because you can measure it doesn’t mean it matters.

Digital marketing apps and platforms make it easy to track almost everything—clicks, likes, impressions, video watch time, open rates, bounce rates, and on and on. But too often, businesses get caught up in measuring for measurement’s sake. The real question is: Are you tracking the numbers that actually drive your business forward?

Let’s consider which metrics matter most, how to track them effectively, and how to use your results to keep improving your marketing strategy.

Start With the Goal, Not the Tool

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is jumping straight into tools—Google Analytics, HubSpot dashboards, social insights—before deciding what they’re really trying to achieve.

Instead, begin with the end in mind:

• Awareness → reach, impressions, new visitors
  
• Engagement → email signups, replies/comments, time on site
  
• Conversion → leads, demo requests, purchases
  
• Retention → repeat customers, customer lifetime value

Quick Tip: Ask yourself, “What does success actually look like for this campaign or channel?” The answer should determine your KPIs—not the other way around.

Vanity Metrics vs. Vital Metrics

It’s tempting to chase the big, flashy numbers—likes, views, and follower counts. They look good in a report but don’t always translate to impact. These are vanity metrics: they make you feel good but don’t necessarily move your business forward.

Instead, focus on vital metrics—the ones that show real progress toward your goals:

• Email click-through rates instead of just open rates
  
• Social conversations and DMs instead of raw reach
  
• Website conversion paths instead of overall traffic
  

Real-world example: Would you rather have 10,000 views on a post with no leads—or 100 views that generate five demo requests?

Attribution and the Real Customer Journey

Attribution is about connecting actions to outcomes. But the truth is, customer journeys are rarely linear. People bounce between ads, social channels, your website, and word of mouth before making a decision.

There are different attribution models like first-touch, last-touch, and multi-touch, but none of them tell the whole story. Use attribution to inform your decisions, not oversimplify them.

Pro Tip: Think of attribution as a story, not a math problem. It’s less about perfectly assigning credit and more about understanding the factors that influence your buyers along the way.

Build Feedback Loops That Improve Strategy

When you track your metrics well, the results should be a constant learning experience.

Instead of chasing spikes in activity, look for patterns over time. Set a rhythm for reviewing your KPIs (monthly or quarterly works well). Ask as a team:

• What are we learning?
  
• What should we stop, start, or continue?
  
• How can we adjust based on what’s working?

When measurement becomes part of your feedback loop, you create a culture of continuous improvement.

Practical Tools & Approaches

There are countless tools that can help, but the key is to let your goals guide the tech—not the other way around. A few worth considering:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Website and behavior tracking
  
• HubSpot, Mailchimp, or your CRM: Campaign and customer data
  
• Social insights dashboards: Engagement tracking across channels

Pro tip: Keep a simple KPI tracker—weekly or monthly—that ties directly back to your real goals. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just useful.

Track What Matters

When you measure marketing effectively, you will make smarter decisions. Focus on the metrics that connect directly to your goals, avoid the vanity trap, and use your results to improve what you do next.

Action Step: Review your current KPIs. Which ones truly reflect your goals—and which ones just look nice in a report?