Measuring Marketing Performance that Actually Matters

How to move beyond vanity metrics and build a measurement toolkit that supports better commercial decisionsReflection: Which marketing metric gets the most attention in your organisation, and does it genuinely influence a better decision?
Why this matters nowMeasurement is still one of marketing’s biggest credibility challenges. Marketing Week’s 2025 effectiveness survey found that only 39.2% of brand marketers currently measure whether their work is delivering business outcomes, while Gartner says only 52% of CMOs and senior marketing leaders can prove marketing’s value and get credit for it. Manager focus: Choose measures that show business contribution, not just marketing activityExecutive focus: Report numbers that help explain what is working, what is not, and what should happen nextKey point: If measurement does not help a commercial decision, it is reporting theatre, not performance management. 
Session aimsBy the end of this session, you should be able to:Distinguish meaningful metrics from vanity metrics
Build a small, defensible measurement toolkit
Connect daily activity to commercial outcomes
Use leading and lagging indicators together
Explain priorities clearly to colleagues and stakeholdersKey point: Good measurement creates clarity for both strategy and execution