Stop all the metrics ... only measure what matters

This is NOT a 'less is more' blogette to satisfy some overwhelming urge to stop all the approaches from agencies offering to 'help' me with data, metrics, scorecards, etc etc.  And neither is it a winge about 'analysis paralysis' (well...maybe a bit of both...)

The point is this: As a CMO of mid-cap company, with investors, financial analysts and so on... the world is a very different place from my first job running campaigns. Different things matter, at different times and for reasons that have much narrower & sharper focus.

I no longer care about 'cost per lead', for example.  I care much more about customer tenure, wallet share and customer influence/value, growth markets, markets to invest in and those to withdraw from. Fundamentally it boils down to the simplest thing: How do we drive profitable growth.  And so the simplest metrics just have to follow. I dont want 200 metrics. I want 10, or 20, but no more.  I want my team focused on the same ones. They need to be driving simple, effective, metrics harder and faster than before.

If we dont grow profitable, we dont have a business. And we certainly dont have a marketing function in that scenario!

Who has cracked the code?  At this time of year, I am open to input...

And a Happy New Year to you all!!