Metrics become poor measures once they become targets (Goodhart's Law). To effectively inform upper management, provide context and a 'gut feeling' through periodic demos and brief, 4-5 bullet point status reports that get read, rather than long reports that get ignored.
Related Insights
Typical marketing meetings devolve into a list of completed tasks and vanity metrics. A "Momentum Meeting" is fundamentally different: it’s structured around scorecards and goals. The focus shifts from "what did we do?" to "did we move the needle, and if not, why?" This fosters accountability and strategic problem-solving.
Effective internal communication requires adjusting the level of detail, or "altitude," for different stakeholders. While an immediate team may need granular task-level updates, partners like sales and leadership often just need high-level results and strategic outcomes (the 30,000-foot view).
Not all design impact can be quantified with metrics. When data is unavailable, frame your value by highlighting contributions to competitive parity, internal team efficiency, or bug reduction. This holistic view of business health resonates with leadership beyond just product managers.
Instead of stating that customer retention improved from 80% to 95%, tell the story behind it. Explain the problem, the specific actions taken by a cross-functional team, and the resulting outcome. This narrative makes the numbers credible and memorable.
Marketers need complex, multi-point dashboards to make informed decisions. However, presenting this raw data to the C-suite causes confusion. The marketing team's job is to diagnose the complex data internally and then present a simplified, narrative-driven report to leadership that justifies strategy and investment.
Go beyond visual roadmaps. Create a monthly written document for executives that explains *why* the roadmap changed, details priorities, and includes data from recent launches. This forces intentionality, builds trust, and fosters deeper, more accountable conversations with leadership.
To keep the wider company engaged with marketing's progress, use highly visual weekly updates that act as a 'highlight reel.' Focus on screenshots of shipped work (blog posts, ads) and positive customer comments rather than complex frameworks or dense metrics, which tend to lose people's attention.
SDR teams often ignore complex dashboards with too many metrics. Simplify reporting to four key numbers: dials (effort), connections (quality), meetings scheduled (conversion), and meetings ran (outcome). This clarity increases trust, accountability, and focus on the activities that drive results.
To make your work visible to leadership, shift your communication from discussing activities to highlighting outcomes. Instead of listing tasks, explain the tangible business result your work generated and how it aligns with broader company goals. This frames your contribution strategically.
Executives crave predictability, which feels at odds with agile discovery. Bridge this gap by making your learning visible. A simple weekly update on tested assumptions, evidence found, and resulting decisions provides a rhythm of progress that satisfies their need for oversight without resorting to rigid plans.
