A digital marketing performance report could be a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly report that you compile for a client. This report contains performance stats across all the online marketing platforms that are used in your digital marketing strategy as well as insights based on the performance. Reports could also be compiled for internal use within an agency which gives teams the opportunity to go over the report in order to get a complete overview of how their strategies are performing for their clients.
Preparing your digital marketing performance report
Most digital marketing platforms have their own reporting or analytics features that you can use to view performance. In cases where you have a client whose digital marketing strategy includes multiple platforms, it makes perfect sense to invest in a reporting tool that allows you to compile all your data in one place.
Let’s have a look at what needs to be taken into consideration when preparing your reports.
3 important elements to consider before creating your digital marketing performance report:
1. Who you are preparing the report for
Before you even get started on deciding what data will go into your report, you need to establish who the report is for. It is important to identify who your report will be directed to because the information required by each role in a company will differ. For example, the head of the marketing department would require a much more in-depth performance report compared to the CEO of the company. Understanding exactly what your clients aim to achieve by using digital marketing as a form of advertising, is the absolute key to getting their reports correct. It can take a couple tries before getting it 100% right and we will dive into the importance of client feedback a little later in this blog.
2. What reporting tool you are going to use
There are plenty of digital marketing tools on offer out there! For example, Oviond offers an easy-to-use reporting software that will allow you to create reports for clients across multiple channels. It can be extremely time-consuming preparing digital marketing performance reports each month so it is good practice to create reports based on your audiences. This way, each report will have all the necessary data included for each of your focus audience. An internal dashboard could be created for you and your team to refer to at any time in order to see the performance of a client’s campaigns. Using a reporting tool allows you to create templates of these reports, saving you a lot of time each month.
3. The type of information to include in your report
You need to know what type of data your client would like to see in their reports. A common mistake made by many agencies is that they add too much data to a report, so make sure that you are only including data that will answer your client’s questions. This is why it is so important to meet with your client prior to creating their digital marketing campaigns so you can understand what needs to be highlighted and presented to them in their reporting.
Once you have determined all of the above, it is time to start creating beautiful and informative reports to present to your clients.
Presenting your report to your client
One of the greatest advantages of digital marketing is that reports can be presented to clients online. Most digital marketing reporting tools are super easy to use and offer the convenience of a report being shared directly with your client. These reports can either be shared directly from the tool or via a link in an email. You could provide your client with insights on the performance of their digital marketing campaigns by means of a phone call, a video call, a YouTube video, or simply just in writing. Reporting softwares aim to save you hours on reporting each month.
Sometimes a client may request a face-to-face meeting with you to go over their report. Reporting tools work great for this type of presentation because you are able to make the report as visually appealing as possible and as you go over the report in your presentation you are able to provide insights on each metric as you go. Clients will love that everything is in one place without needing to swap from platform to platform.
How often should a report be presented to your client?
The standard reporting period across agencies is once a month. Most clients request to only receive one report a month where some clients might require more or even less frequent reporting. It may be a case that your client wants a report for each campaign that you run for them, which could result in more than one report a month or maybe even one report every couple of months. Presenting a report face to face doesn’t need to be done as frequently anymore. This type of presentation could be scheduled for once or twice a year if requested by your client. This would be a great opportunity to review how your client’s digital marketing has been performing and make any necessary changes.
It is good practice to keep a history of all the reports you create for your clients so that you are able to refer back to them if needed. Clients also prefer to have this for themselves too as it may be needed when discussing marketing budgets. P.S. Most reporting tools keep a history of the reports you created on their system.
Making the necessary changes to your report each month
It is extremely important that you get feedback from your client on the reports that you send them, especially the ones you present to them in person as they are more likely to provide feedback at these meetings.
The first report you create for your clients is going to be based on what was discussed prior to creating their digital marketing campaigns. This discussion will give you an idea of what they want to see in their reports and how often they would like to receive a report, but you will never really know if you are providing them with the correct data until after the first presentation. It’s advisable to always take notes during these presentations and record feedback so that you can make any necessary changes to your report or to the way you present your reports.
Ready… Steady… Present!
I hope that this blog has highlighted some good insights on how you can go about preparing and presenting your digital marketing performance reports for your clients. If you are interested in finding out a bit more about what you should include in your digital marketing reports each month, go and have a look at one of our earlier blogs that goes into a bit more detail on this topic.
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