Marketing Reporting
AnalyticsAlso: Marketing reports · Performance reporting · Marketing dashboards
Quick definition
Marketing reporting is the process of collecting, organising and presenting marketing performance data to inform decisions. Good reporting shows what is working, what is not and why, then connects that to recommended action.
Where it shows up in the data
A metric is any measurable number. A KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a metric that has been identified as critical to your business goals. Good reporting focuses on 5 to 8 KPIs, not 50 metrics.
Different metrics need different review frequencies. Campaign performance needs weekly review. Channel performance needs monthly review. Year-on-year trends need quarterly review. Using the wrong cadence leads to either over-reacting or under-reacting.
A number in isolation is meaningless. Revenue of $50K this month only means something relative to last month, the same period last year and your target. Every metric in a report needs a comparison point.
Which marketing activities get credit for which outcomes. A sale often involves multiple touchpoints: a Google Ad, a retargeting ad, an email and a direct visit. How you attribute that sale shapes what your reporting tells you to do next.
What it actually means
Marketing reporting serves two audiences: the team doing the work (who need granular, frequent signals to optimise) and the stakeholders approving the budget (who need high-level trend and ROI signals to make resourcing decisions). Most reporting fails because it tries to serve both with the same document. The operative question for any report is: what decision will this information be used to make?
A report that documents the past without shaping the future is an expensive vanity project.
How it shows up
Good reporting shows up in faster decision cycles, clearer budget allocation and the ability to explain changes in performance. The test: if your key metrics dropped 20% this month, could your report tell you within 10 minutes why it happened and what to do about it?
The Australian context
Australian marketing teams tend to over-report to stakeholders who are not familiar with digital metrics, which leads to reporting designed to educate rather than decide. Before building your reporting stack, align with stakeholders on the 5 numbers they actually care about and build everything else as drill-down context.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
How often should I send a marketing report to stakeholders?
Monthly is the standard for strategic performance reporting. Weekly reports are appropriate for active campaign management. Quarterly reports are best for trend analysis and budget planning. The key is matching the cadence to the decision being made.
What should be in a monthly marketing report?
At minimum: performance vs target for your 5-8 KPIs, period-over-period comparison, brief explanation of significant movements, and 2-3 recommended actions for next month. Keep it to one page for stakeholders, with drill-down appendix for the team.
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About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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