What Should I Track in Marketing Monthly?
Most Marketing Dashboards Create Noise
Many B2B service businesses track too much—and understand too little.
Dozens of metrics. Multiple platforms. Conflicting signals.
The result? Leaders either obsess over vanity metrics or ignore marketing performance entirely.
Monthly marketing tracking should do one thing: inform better decisions.
If a metric does not influence strategy, budget, positioning, or execution, it does not belong in your monthly review.
Start With the Right Categories
Effective monthly tracking falls into four categories:
- Visibility
- Engagement
- Lead Generation
- Pipeline Impact
This structure keeps reporting aligned with growth—not activity.
1. Visibility Metrics (Are You Being Seen?)
Visibility answers whether your message is reaching the right audience.
Track monthly trends in:
- Website traffic (overall and top-performing pages)
- LinkedIn impressions (personal and company page)
- YouTube views (if applicable)
- Email subscriber growth
Focus on trend direction, not daily fluctuations.
Ask:
- Is traffic growing, stable, or declining?
- Which content topics are attracting the most visibility?
- Are new subscribers entering the ecosystem?
Visibility is an early signal. It precedes pipeline.
2. Engagement Metrics (Is the Message Resonating?)
Visibility without engagement is shallow awareness.
Monthly engagement review should include:
- LinkedIn engagement rate (comments > likes)
- Email open and click-through rates
- Average time on page for key blogs
- Webinar attendance vs registration rate
High impressions with low engagement may signal weak positioning.
Ask:
- Which topics generated meaningful discussion?
- Which posts led to inbound messages?
- Are people consuming content deeply—or bouncing quickly?
Engagement indicates relevance.
3. Lead Generation Metrics (Is Marketing Producing Opportunity?)
This is where activity turns into pipeline.
Track monthly:
- New leads generated
- Lead magnet downloads
- Webinar registrations
- Contact form submissions
- Discovery call requests
Break leads down by source when possible.
Ask:
- Which channel drives the most qualified inquiries?
- Are certain topics converting better than others?
- Is lead volume stable or volatile?
Lead trends matter more than isolated spikes.
4. Pipeline Impact (Is Marketing Influencing Revenue?)
This is where many small businesses lose clarity.
Marketing should not be judged solely by last-click attribution.
Instead, review:
- Percentage of deals influenced by content
- Time-to-close for inbound vs outbound leads
- Revenue tied to marketing-originated leads
For B2B services especially, content often shortens sales cycles and increases trust before conversations begin.
Marketing’s impact is cumulative—not transactional.
Leading vs Lagging Indicators
Understanding timing matters.
Leading indicators:
- Content output volume
- Engagement growth
- Subscriber increases
Lagging indicators:
- Revenue
- Closed deals
- Customer acquisition cost
If leading indicators are rising but revenue lags, patience may be required.
If leading indicators are flat, revenue decline often follows.
Monthly tracking should help you spot momentum shifts early.
What Not to Obsess Over
Avoid over-focusing on:
- Follower counts alone
- Single-post virality
- Minor week-to-week swings
- Platform vanity metrics disconnected from pipeline
Marketing success is built on consistency and compounding—not spikes.
A Simple Monthly Marketing Review Framework
Use this 5-step structure each month:
- Review visibility trends
- Identify top-performing content
- Evaluate engagement depth
- Assess lead generation patterns
- Connect activity to pipeline conversations
Keep the review concise—30 to 60 minutes is sufficient when systems are clear.
Who Should Own Marketing Reporting?
In small and mid-sized businesses, reporting often stalls because no one owns it.
A marketing assistant can:
- Pull cross-platform metrics
- Build a clean dashboard
- Summarize trends
- Flag anomalies
- Recommend areas for focus
Leadership reviews, interprets, and decides.
Clear ownership prevents marketing from drifting.
The Bottom Line
Monthly marketing tracking should clarify direction—not create overwhelm.
Focus on visibility, engagement, lead generation, and pipeline influence. When metrics are tied to decisions, marketing becomes strategic—not reactive.