Marketer's report: how to show work so that it is understood
A report without a solutions column is an archive of numbers. I analyze the structure on one page, how a report to the manager differs from a report to the client, why it is necessary to compare with the plan and the previous period at the same time, and what to do with bad numbers.
The report is the part of a marketer’s work by which he is judged. And this is the only part that almost no one designs: it is assembled from what is convenient to unload.
A report without a column “what are we doing next” is an archive of numbers. The archive will not be returned.
1. Output comes first
The most common structure is a table with comments underneath it. The reader is forced to first unravel the numbers, then find an explanation in the text and independently put it into a conclusion.
The correct order is reversed: three or four sentences at the beginning about what happened, what it means and what is proposed. Next come the numbers - as confirmation, and not as a rebus.
Practical benefit: a person who has two minutes will read the first paragraph and get everything he needs. The person who has twenty will read the rest.
2. One page structure
| Block | Volume | What's in it |
|---|---|---|
| Conclusion | 3-4 sentences | What happened, what does it mean, what do we offer? |
| Indicators | 5-7 lines | Plan, fact, past period, decision |
| What did you do | 5-6 points | Specific actions, rather than “doing work” |
| Plan for the period | 3-5 points | With responsibility and deadline |
| Application | as much as you like | Everything else |
The application is an important part of the design. It removes the temptation to fit everything into the main part: the details don’t disappear anywhere, they just stop getting in the way.
3. Two comparison bases at the same time
Only with the plan: “78% completed.” It is not clear whether we are growing or falling.
Only with the previous period: “increased by 15%.” It is not clear whether we are getting closer to the goal for which everything was started.
Both bases together give a complete picture and, more importantly, remove the ground for manipulation. Choosing a convenient base of comparison is the most common way to show your work better than it is and get noticed.
4. Bad numbers come first
Counterintuitive and it works. The drawdown, placed at the beginning along with the hypothesis of the cause and the proposal, is read as control over the situation.
The same drawdown, found by the reader in the middle of the table, reads as an attempt to hide it - even if no one was hiding anything. Further, the remaining figures in the report come into question.
Formula that works: what went wrong, why, presumably, what we are doing. The third part is obligatory: bad news without a proposal is pushing the problem upward.
5. “What did they do” without filler?
The section that is most often filled with phrases like “conducted advertising campaigns”, “worked on content”, “carried out optimization”. All this is not information.
Check: is it possible to understand from the item exactly what has changed? “We relaunched the search campaign with a new group structure”—you can. “Optimized campaigns” - no.
6. It’s different for the manager and the client
The manager knows the context: what the product is, what the task is, what happened in the last quarter. He doesn't need explanations and reminders, he needs numbers and solutions.
The client also needs context: what they did, why exactly this, how it relates to his money. The same set of numbers, but with an additional layer of explanation - and with a more explicit link between marketing metrics and revenue.
What indicators generally make sense to bring to the top - in analysis Marketer KPI.
7. Frequency
A month for a meaningful report, a week for a short status of a few lines.
A weekly full-format report is a common mistake: it eats up time that would be enough for work, and at the same time shows almost nothing. Most marketing changes have a cycle longer than a week, and weekly fluctuations are noise.
8. The structure does not change
The same format from month to month turns a set of reports into history: you can open three in a row and see the trend.
The changing format does not provide this. Each report has to be read again, there is nothing to compare, and the accumulated knowledge does not work. Ready grid of indicators - in KPI dashboard, from where the numbers are transferred to the report.
9. Summary
Conclusion at the beginning, five to seven indicators with two comparison bases, bad numbers first with a hypothesis and proposal, specifics in the “what we did” section, everything else in the appendix.
And the solutions column. If you remove everything except her from the report, he will lose less than if you remove only her.
Related materials: Marketer KPI, KPI dashboard, marketing audit, marketing analytics, analysis of the contractor's report.