Data-Driven Marketing Approaches

Marketing has two big jobs, but we're usually judged on only one. Our job in marketing splits into two parts: Building mental availability: making sure people know who we are and remember us when they’re ready to buy. This is often called brand marketing. Activating demand: making sure that people who are ready to buy choose us. This is typically performance or demand marketing. Here’s the challenge — most of our metrics (MQLs, pipeline, revenue) are tied to demand activation. But brand and demand aren’t separate – they work together. Still, they behave differently and aren’t always easy to measure in the same way. Brand is like staying in shape. You go to the gym, eat healthy, and take care of yourself. You don’t always see instant results, but over time, your body gets stronger. → In marketing terms: We want more people to know us, remember us, and think of us when they’re ready to buy. This is a long-term game. Demand activation is like showing up on race day. You’ve trained for months, and now it’s time to perform. If you’re fit, you’ll likely do well. → In marketing terms: When someone’s ready to buy, our goal is to be easy to find and hard to ignore. Most of the time, our execs care about the race day numbers – leads, opps, deals. That’s fair, because those drive revenue. But if we don’t also take care of our brand (our fitness), performance eventually suffers. So what do we do? We need to measure both. Performance marketing already has clear metrics. But brand often feels fuzzy — hard to prove it’s working. That’s why Share of Search (SoS) is useful. It’s a quantifiable way to track how much people are searching for our brand compared to competitors. It acts like a “brand scoreboard”, so we can see how campaigns are moving the needle, even if the revenue impact comes later. So: Use performance metrics for activation (leads, opps, CAC, etc.) Use Share of Search as the north star for brand Run both in parallel, and know that each supports the other Two different motions. Two different metrics. One goal: revenue growth.

I think we’re measuring the wrong stuff… and it’s quietly killing momentum. 2026 has to be the year we fix it. Impressions. Clicks. MQLs. “Engagement.” The real game is happening in DMs, Slack threads, forwarded newsletters, and meetings. Here are 6 metrics I’d focus on in 2026 GTM (and why they matter). 1) Conversations → conversions What it is: Of the conversations your content starts, how many turn into a real next step (intro, meeting, opp). Why it matters: Content doesn’t “generate leads.” It generates conversations. Pipeline comes from what you do next. How to track: Tag every inbound convo (DM/email/reply) and mark the outcome: no fit / nurture / meeting / opp. 2) REAL ICPs engaging with content What it is: Not “engagement.” Engagement from the right people (titles, seniority, company tier, intent). Why it matters: 1 CFO at a target account > 1,000 random likes. How to track: Maintain an ICP list (titles + account tiers) and measure: % of engagers who match ICP of target accounts engaged per week repeat ICP engagers (X touches in 30 days) 3) Brand mentions inside ICP-relevant conversations What it is: How often your brand comes up when your ICP is discussing the problem you solve (not when you post). Why it matters: This is the difference between “content that performs” and a brand that gets recommended. How to track: Collect signals: customer calls (“we heard about you from…”), community moderators, partner chatter, dark social screenshots, and sales intel. Even a simple monthly “mention log” works. 4) Conversation velocity What it is: The speed from publish → first qualified conversation, and from convo → meeting. Why it matters: Velocity is the earliest indicator your messaging is landing. If it’s slow, you’re not sharp enough yet. How to track: time-to-first-ICP-convo after a post/report time-to-meeting after first touch “conversation depth” score (comment → DM → problem share → meeting ask) 5) Brand + category position What it is: Are you being associated with a clear “lane” (category/point of view) or just “a vendor who posts”? Why it matters: In 2026, positioning is distribution. If people can’t summarize your POV in one sentence, you’re invisible. How to track: Quarterly “message recall” check: ask prospects/customers: “What do we do?” “What do we believe?” “What are we known for?” 6) Dark social + word-of-mouth What it is: The off-platform sharing that actually drives deals: forwards, screenshots, Slack drops, “my friend sent me this.” Why it matters: A huge percentage of B2B buying happens in private. If your GTM can’t see dark social, you’re flying blind. How to track: “How did you find us?” (mandatory field) inbound screenshots / Slack mentions private replies after posts If your 2026 GTM dashboard doesn’t include conversations, ICP quality, dark social, and category position, it’s going to keep optimizing for attention… while someone else captures intent.

For half a decade, I thought I was tracking the right metrics. I was wrong. Here are 8 metrics I wish I had started tracking sooner to know if our Brand (AKA the equity value of the business) was actually getting stronger. 1. Are your branded organic searches growing faster than revenue? 2. Are contribution dollars & margin going up? Note: Contribution Dollars = Revenue - variable costs (COGS, marketing, shipping). It excludes fixed costs like rent & salaries. 3. Is direct & branded search revenue growing faster than overall revenue? 4. Is the % difference between gross & net sales shrinking? Note: This signals less reliance on discounts & fewer returns. 5. Are 30, 60, and 90-day incremental LTV going up? (excluding initial purchase) 6. Is your reach growing as fast as (or faster than) your revenue? 7. Have your worst days gotten better? (i.e., is the average of your 30 lowest-revenue days trending up?) 8. For organic search: is revenue per session rising while total sessions are growing or stable? ***UPDATE AFTER GOING THROUGH THE COMMENTS*** Commenters have suggested awesome additional metrics to look at, so I've added them as separate comments and tagged the person who suggested it. -- If you're not tracking any of these things, fret not. For the first half decade, I only thought revenue, growth rate, ROAS, conversion rate, new customers acquired, and % of revenue from existing customers were the only metrics that mattered. I realized that while those metrics matter, they're just a small part of the puzzle. They don't get to the core of building a balanced growth engine that improves over time, not the opposite. --- Caveats: None of these metrics are perfect. You can game any of them. The general idea is that if you're able to answer yes to all of these questions in a reasonable way, then your brand is likely getting healthier. Make best efforts to handle things that would invalidate the metric. For example, regarding the branded organic search volume metric: you might be thinking, "well, we did TV last year, so the fact that Brand search volume is down this year is irrelevant." Unfortunately, that's a bullsh*t excuse. Find a way to make the metric relevant by getting an understanding of what the TV impact on search was and strip that out, or acknowledge that TV was driving value for you, and canceling it was a mistake. --- Question for the people of the internet: What other metrics do you like to track that help you get a feel for the increasing quality of your business?

👉 Comparison of three core marketing measurement frameworks: Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM), Incrementality Testing, and Attribution. #Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) – The Macro Strategy 1. Uses aggregated historical marketing data and external factors to measure overall business impact. 2. Strategic value: budget allocation, privacy-safe measurement, cross-channel impact analysis. 3. Limitations: requires long-term historical data and cannot directly prove causality. 4. Best used for annual planning, channel budget allocation, and long-term trend analysis. #Incrementality Testing – The Causal Validator 1. Uses control and exposed groups to measure true lift caused by marketing activities. 2. Strategic value: proves causality and validates campaign effectiveness. 3. Limitations: can be expensive and complex to execute. 4. Best used for campaign validation, testing new channels, and measuring true ROI. # Attribution – The Micro Optimiser 1. Uses user-level journey data to assign conversion credit across touchpoints. 2. Strategic value: real-time campaign optimisation and bid management. 3. Limitations: dependent on tracking technologies and affected by privacy restrictions. 4.Best used for path-to-conversion analysis, budget pacing, and tactical optimisation. #six attribution models: 1. First Touch: 100% credit to the first interaction. 2. Last Touch: 100% credit to the final interaction before conversion. 3. Linear: Equal credit distributed across all touchpoints. 4. Time Decay: More credit assigned to interactions closer to conversion. 5. Data-Driven: Machine learning allocates credit based on actual contribution. 6. Position-Based (U-Shaped): Most credit assigned to first and last interactions, with less credit to middle touchpoints. A unified measurement framework: 1. Set Strategy (MMM) – Define budget allocation. 2. Prove & Validate (Incrementality) – Confirm true incremental impact. 3. Optimise Execution (Attribution) – Improve campaign performance using real-time insights. A continuous feedback loop connects all three approaches, showing how insights from attribution and incrementality improve future MMM models. . 👉 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 Kautilya Roshan 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐕360, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐤 & 𝐂𝐌360. . #ProgrammaticAdvertising #DigitalMarketing #PerformanceMarketing #AdTech #MarketingAnalytics #MediaBuying #MarketingTechnology #DigitalAdvertising

Gain a data-driven understanding of your customer through Importance-Performance Maps. In today's competitive business world, differentiating your brand by understanding and delivering what truly matters to your customers is crucial. That’s where Importance-Performance Maps (I-P Maps) come in, providing a powerful visual tool to drive strategic decisions. What exactly is an I-P Map? It's a two-by-two grid that allows you to evaluate how well your brand performs in the areas that are important (as well as *not* important) to consumers. The vertical axis represents the importance of various attributes in consumers' eyes, while the horizontal axis shows your brand's performance in those areas. You can include other brands in your market, too, in order to see how your brand stacks up against the competition along those. When done correctly, every critical attribute of your offering -- whether it's product quality, customer service, or pricing -- is plotted on the I-P Map based on these two dimensions. Why does it matter? I-P Maps reveal your brand's strengths and areas where improvement is needed. Here's a breakdown of the quadrants: - Keep It Up (High Importance, High Performance): These are your strengths—attributes that are both highly important to customers and where your brand performs well. Maintain focus here to keep your competitive edge. - Concentrate Here (High Importance, Low Performance): These are critical areas where your brand is underperforming, despite their high importance to customers. Improving performance here can significantly boost customer satisfaction. - Low Priority (Low Importance, Low Performance): Attributes that are less important and where performance is lower. These areas may not require immediate attention but should be monitored for any shifts in customer priorities. - Possible Overkill (Low Importance, High Performance): Here, your brand may be over-delivering in areas that are not as important to customers. Resources invested here might be better allocated to areas of higher impact. How do I use I-P Maps? Use I-P Maps to make informed decisions backed by data that align with customer expectations. Fix those areas of underperformance that are important to consumers. Stop investing in attributes of your product or service that consumers just don't care about. Prioritize investment in product offerings, elevate aspects of customer service, or reallocate resources to close competitive gaps or strengthen your advantages. Use I-P Maps to make informed choices that improve your business performance in impactful and efficient ways. Art+Science Analytics Institute | University of Notre Dame | University of Notre Dame - Mendoza College of Business | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | University of Chicago | D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University | ELVTR | Grow with Google - Data Analytics #Analytics #DataStorytelling

You're tracking the wrong number if you measure AI search by clicks from the AI answer. 93% of Google AI Mode sessions end without a click. But users spend 49 seconds in AI Mode, more than double the 21 seconds they spend with AI Overviews. Brand names land in that window, even without a clickstream to prove it. The click gets displaced. Branded search volume rises for brands cited in AI Mode, and branded searches still convert at near-100% CTR. A person reads an AI answer on Monday, Google's "[brand name] pricing" on Wednesday, and your analytics files it under organic with no trail back to the AI citation that started the whole thing. Track branded search volume in Search Console alongside AI citation presence. The lift in branded queries is where AI search impact actually shows up and where most teams are currently flying blind.

Here’s what actually works, Integration. Run experiments to get ground truth on what’s driving incremental sales. Use MMM to understand the macro picture across all channels. Use attribution to find relative performance within channels, across campaigns. Each method covers the gaps in the others. Experimentation gives you causality but limited coverage. MMM gives you a comprehensive channel view but works on correlation. Attribution gives you real time granularity but can’t tell you what’s incremental. Use one in isolation and you’ll get precise numbers that are very wrong, or fuzzy numbers that miss the future. The companies getting this right aren’t picking one method and hoping it works. They’re combining all three and validating them against each other. Measurement is either done right or it's done easily. #MarketingMeasurement #MMM #Incrementality #MarketingScience #PerformanceMarketing

The future of marketing isn’t just about creating more ads. It’s about creating smarter ads. Recently, I explored Omneky and their approach to AI-powered creative optimization really stood out. Most brands today run campaigns across multiple platforms — Meta, Google, TikTok, and more. With so many creatives running at once, the biggest challenge isn’t launching campaigns, it’s understanding which creatives actually drive results. That’s where AI can make a real difference. Omneky analyzes campaign performance data to uncover patterns behind successful ads. It identifies which visuals capture attention, which messaging resonates with audiences, and which creative formats perform best. These insights help marketers move beyond guesswork and make data-driven creative decisions. What I find particularly interesting is how platforms like Omneky connect two critical parts of modern marketing: analytics and creativity. When data informs creative strategy, brands can experiment faster, optimize campaigns more efficiently, and scale what works. In a world where attention is limited and competition is high, combining AI insights with creative thinking can give brands a powerful advantage. Excited to keep exploring innovative AI tools that are shaping the future of marketing. Because the next era of marketing will belong to those who know how to turn data into better creativity. #AI #MarketingAI #AdTech #DigitalMarketing #AIInnovation #FutureOfMarketing 🚀

The smartest sellers are studying buying behavior. Search Query Performance (SQP) gets all the attention, and for good reason. It tells you what’s bringing people in. But it doesn’t tell you who they are or what else they buy once they’re in. That’s where Market Basket Analysis comes in, and most brands are overlooking it. What sellers assume: That success on Amazon is just about targeting better search terms, ranking higher, and converting faster. What’s actually happening: Amazon is quietly telling you who your buyer is through what they add to their cart with your product. Market Basket Analysis (available through Brand Analytics) shows which ASINs are frequently purchased alongside yours. It’s not just an accessory report. It’s an audience signal. Think about what you can learn: • What types of products your customer also buys • What categories they shop in and where you’re missing presence • What brands you’re most commonly paired with (or competing against) • How your product fits into a larger use case or solution This isn’t just helpful for cross-selling. It reframes how you define the role your product plays in the customer’s life. And when you understand that, your entire strategy shifts: → Better bundles → Smarter A+ and brand store design → More relevant ad targeting → More accurate assumptions about lifetime value Amazon is not just a search engine. It’s a marketplace of people with routines, context, and intent. Market Basket Analysis helps you stop guessing. It connects the dots between your product and your real audience, not just the keywords they typed. If you’re still optimizing in isolation, you’re missing what’s actually moving in the cart. Because what good are perfect keywords for the wrong customer? So to start using this report, check out the video and see how to find it on your account #AmazonSellers #BrandRegistry #MarketBasketAnalysis #AmazonData

Brand isn’t pipeline. Demand isn’t awareness. Expand isn’t leads. If you’re measuring every part of marketing the same way, you’re doing it wrong. Different jobs. Different metrics. Here’s how we think about each working: BRAND → Get known. Get trusted. Get remembered. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 6 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯-𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵. How you know it’s working: → Branded search volume is trending up → Direct traffic is growing → Organic traffic (especially non-branded) is increasing → Social engagement is rising (from the right audience) → People are finding you through word-of-mouth, dark social, podcasts → You’re mentioned in analyst reports, media, LinkedIn threads → Share of voice is going up vs competitors → Awareness surveys show people actually know who you are Brand takes time. But when done right, it shortens sales cycles, improves win rates, and lowers CAC. Don’t expect performance results from brand overnight. But don’t ignore the early signals either. DEMAND → Capture intent. Drive pipeline. Convert it. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴. How you know it’s working: → Qualified pipeline is going up quarter over quarter → You’re converting leads into opps and opps into revenue → Pipeline velocity is healthy (Opps × Deal Size × Win Rate) ÷ Sales Cycle → CAC is efficient, ROI is clear → You’re not just getting emails you’re getting right-fit leads → Funnel conversion rates are strong (Lead → MQL → SQL → Opp → Win) → Target accounts are engaging, not just random leads → Forecasted revenue is predictable from your pipeline Demand is the most scrutinized motion and for good reason. It’s where the dollars get made or lost. EXPAND → Keep customers. Grow accounts. Drive loyalty. 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦. How you know it’s working: → Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is above 100% → Customers are upgrading, expanding, or buying new products → Product adoption is increasing (MAU, feature usage, etc.) → You’re seeing fewer churn flags, more referrals → NPS and CSAT are trending up → Advocacy is growing (more case studies, reviews, references) → You’re publishing proof of customer success — not just chasing new logos Retention is where your margins are made. Expansion is where your growth compounds. Ignore this motion and you’ll pay for it later. Marketing isn’t one motion. It’s Brand. Demand. Expand. Know what each one does. Measure it right. And stop using lead volume as your only scoreboard.