Start With Goals

This is one of the most honest questions a business owner can ask — and one of the most common signs that something needs to change. If you're not sure whether your marketing is working, it probably isn't working as well as it should. Before any metric, you need an answer to: what was this marketing supposed to do? Drive phone calls? Generate form submissions? Increase website traffic from a specific area? If you don't have a clear answer, measuring anything else is premature.

The Metrics That Actually Matter for Small Businesses

• Phone calls and form submissions — direct lead contact is the most important metric for most service businesses. Set up call tracking and make sure your contact forms are connected to something you actually check.
• Where leads are coming from — ask every new customer how they found you. This simple question, asked consistently, tells you which channels are actually producing customers.
• Google Business Profile insights — your profile dashboard shows impressions, clicks, calls, and direction requests. Trends in these numbers tell you whether your local visibility is growing.
• Website traffic and behavior — Google Analytics shows how many people visit your site and what they do when they arrive. If traffic is high but contacts are low, your website is converting poorly.

The Simplest Test

Are you getting leads? Not traffic. Not likes. Not followers. Leads — people who want to give you money. If yes and the volume is growing, your marketing is working. If no or you don't know — that's where to start investigating.

→ Read more: How to Measure If Your Marketing Agency Is Actually Delivering Results

Want help setting up tracking and measuring what's actually driving your business? Schedule a free consultation at jpetrous.com | contact@jpetrous.com | 586-563-6634.