Establishing clear expectations is essential in marketing, a field where success depends on strategy, creativity, and data-driven execution. Marketing leaders must not only set specific goals but also outline the behaviors that drive these results. By combining clear communication with real benchmarks and data-backed insights, marketers can align their teams for sustained success.
1. Communicate Expectations Clearly with Realistic Benchmarks
Marketing teams often face ambiguity due to unclear expectations, which can derail campaign success. To counter this, expectations must be well-defined and backed by data that contextualizes goals and provides a measurable path to achievement.
Data-Driven Guidelines for Clear Communication:
- Tailor Expectations to Individual Strengths and Roles: According to SBI Growth, marketing roles vary significantly in scope, from content creation to digital strategy. Expectations should be customized to align with each marketer's responsibilities. For instance, an SEO specialist should focus on increasing organic traffic, while a content strategist might be tasked with boosting engagement metrics.
- Set Measurable Objectives: SBI Growth research shows that marketing teams who set clear, measurable KPIs achieve 20% higher performance on average. Instead of vague goals, like "improve brand awareness," define targets such as "increase website traffic by 15% this quarter" or "improve lead conversion rates by 10% by Q4."
- Define Success Behaviors with Precision: It’s not enough to state objectives—you must clearly identify the behaviors that will drive these outcomes. For example, a campaign manager should focus on AB testing ad creatives weekly to optimize performance, while a content writer may need to produce three data-backed white papers per month to support lead generation efforts.
- Benchmark KPIs Using Industry Standards: As SBI Growth’s benchmarks suggest, top marketing teams aim for a 12-20% lead-to-conversion rate in B2B marketing. Use this as a baseline for your team’s performance goals.
Example for Marketers: A content marketing lead might be instructed: "To hit our lead generation target of 500 MQLs this quarter, create and distribute three pieces of high-value content per week to target audiences in healthcare and tech. Ensure that each content piece drives a 15% engagement rate, as per industry benchmarks."
2. Focus on the Behaviors that Drive Results, Not Just the Numbers
While outcomes are essential, they are the result of specific, measurable actions. Marketing teams should emphasize data-backed behaviors that drive campaign success.
How to Use Benchmarks to Monitor Marketing Behaviors:
- Content Creation and Distribution: SBI Growth data shows that top-performing companies publish 11+ blog posts per month, which correlates with a notable increase in website traffic and lead generation. For your team, setting expectations around content production and promotion frequency can drive these results.
- Customer Engagement and Nurturing: Email marketing and lead nurturing benchmarks suggest a 20-30% open rate and a 2-5% click-through rate as industry standards. Ensuring your team regularly monitors these metrics and adjusts messaging accordingly can boost conversion.
- Lead Response Times: According to SBI Growth, companies that respond to leads within five minutes are 9 times more likely to convert them. Ensure that your team is adhering to this best practice by tracking and improving response times in real-time.
3. Track results with Data-Driven Metrics
Marketers thrive when they have clear, data-driven goals to work toward. Setting benchmarks based on industry data can help clarify what success looks like.
Strategies to Measure Marketing Success Against Benchmarks:
- Lead Generation and Conversion: Research from SBI Growth reveals that companies with well-aligned marketing and sales strategies achieve an average 10-20% conversion rate. Monitor how your team is progressing toward these goals by tracking the number of MQLs generated and how many of them convert to SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads).
- ROI of Campaigns: Benchmarks suggest that marketing campaigns typically aim for a 5-10x return on ad spend (ROAS). Ensure your campaigns are tracking within this range by regularly reviewing metrics such as cost per lead (CPL) and overall return on investment (ROI).
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV): According to SBI Growth, top-performing marketers increase customer lifetime value by focusing on repeat business and brand loyalty. Your team’s benchmarks should reflect efforts to raise CLTV by enhancing customer satisfaction and long-term engagement.
- Example KPI Tracking: A marketing manager might establish a KPI of generating $100,000 in new revenue from a campaign, with a target ROAS of 7x. As the campaign progresses, track total leads, conversion rates, and how much revenue each stage of the funnel produces to stay aligned with this benchmark.
Provide Regular Feedback
Feedback is key to closing performance gaps and celebrating wins. The feedback should be grounded in data and address both behaviors and outcomes.
Effective Feedback Practices Backed by Data:
- Benchmark Performance Reviews: Regularly review team performance against SBI Growth’s industry benchmarks to identify areas for improvement. For example, if your team’s content engagement rate is lagging behind the industry average of 2%, provide specific feedback on how to optimize content for your target audience.
- Recognize Adaptation and Agility: If a team member has adjusted tactics mid-campaign to hit key KPIs, provide real-time feedback and celebrate their agility. For example, if they adjusted paid media strategies to increase click-through rates by 25%, acknowledge that success.
- Tie Feedback to Measurable Outcomes: Rather than generic praise or criticism, offer insights into specific metrics. For instance, if a team member’s lead conversion rates fell short of the benchmark, discuss strategies for improvement, such as refining the value proposition or improving follow-up strategies.
The Bottom Line
Marketing leaders who align clear expectations with data-backed benchmarks and behaviors set their teams up for success. By communicating effectively, monitoring key actions, and providing actionable feedback, teams can hit their targets and exceed industry benchmarks.
The Bottom Line: Marketers face complex challenges, but clear expectations, supported by real data and performance benchmarks, lead to success. Use data to set, monitor, and measure goals, ensuring your team is aligned with industry standards for peak performance.