May 17, 2018 by Katie Russell 0 comments

4 Metrics to Benchmark Marketing Performance against Your Competitors

These metrics to benchmark marketing performance will give you insight into how your brand stacks up against your competition.

A few months ago, the winter Olympics were in full swing, and Mikayla Shiffrin became the youngest slalom champion in Olympic alpine skiing history. Shiffrin achieved this incredible record, not only working to beat her best personal performance, but also that of her biggest competitors. After all, you don’t become a two-time Olympic gold medalist without the knowledge — and drive — to beat out the world’s best athletes.

You have to know how your competitors are performing to be the very best at what you do. That goes for Olympic athletes and supply chain companies alike.

We call this benchmarking performance. For we marketers, it’s important, albeit difficult, to find metrics to benchmark marketing performance. We tend to turn inward to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs), like website traffic, social engagement and conversion rates. But it’s time to start looking outward, as well.

Competitive benchmarking gives brands the ability to benchmark their marketing performance against that of their competitors, giving you the knowledge and drive you need to improve your performance and chance of success. Click To Tweet

Competitive benchmarking gives brands the ability to compare themselves against a number of competitors using a set collection of metrics. These metrics allow you to benchmark marketing performance against that of your competitors. This will give you the knowledge and drive you need to improve your performance and chance of success.

Here are four metrics to benchmark marketing performance against your competitors.

4 metrics to benchmark marketing performance against your competitors

1. Content

Benchmarking your content allows you to compare the differences and similarities between you and your competitors’ types and relevancy of content. Are they focusing on video content or blog posts? Are they creating infographics? How often are they posting content?

2. Social activity

Knowing what social media platforms your competitors are using is critical in today’s digital marketing world. Are they having success on a specific platform? Are you using the same platforms? And how often are they posting on social media? How do you compare? Knowing when and where to post on social media can help get you in front of your target audience.

3. Social engagement

You’re posting and tweeting, but are audiences interacting with your content? Benchmarking your social engagement against your competitors lets you see if and how audiences are interacting with your posts and videos. How many likes and shares are you receiving? And how many are you competitors?

4. Keywords and topics

We talk a lot about the importance of keywords and topics. After all, that’s how audiences are searching for — and finding! — your brand and your competitors. Using online tools like SERPS, you can easily determine how you and your competitors rank for specific keywords and topics.

Analyze and adjust

Use these metrics to benchmark marketing performance. Once you have collected data, you can start analyzing your results. How does your marketing strategy stack up against your competitors and industry leaders?

Benchmarking allows you to see strategic opportunities — what you’re doing well and what you need to improve. You’ll gain valuable insight into what your competitors are doing better than you. Use this knowledge to improve your strategy. After all, action is key!

Which metrics to benchmark marketing performance do you use?