Evaluating 2023 Marketing Performance

Q4 has arrived, and I’ve proclaimed October “National Marketing Plan Procrastination Month.”

Every tech consulting leader and marketing director I know recognizes they are “on the clock” and need to be making progress on next year’s plan. Often, they struggle to get started because they stare at a blank screen or a copy of last year’s plan with little or no context of what, if anything, to change.

If you are equally challenged to get started – here’s a tool that will help: 5QQ.

What is the 5QQ framework?

The 5QQ framework will help technology consulting firms organize the evaluation of prior years’ marketing results and produce actionable input into your 2024 plan.

This framework simplifies the collection of marketing results information, allowing further performance evaluation. 

This isn’t a laundry list of KPIs and vanity metrics. Those can create noise and distract you.

This is a thinking exercise to help you identify and prioritize elements of your marketing system. 

This exercise aims to reduce the “noise” of marketing evaluation and reveal areas of your marketing that may need emphasis and change.

The “5” in the framework represents five marketing areas that deserve your evaluation and will be included in your 2024 plan.

Those areas might include the following:

• Lead Generation & Conversion
• Brand Awareness and Positioning
• Client Engagement & Retention
• Content & Thought Leadership
• Partnerships & Collaborations
• Digital Presence & Performance
• Events & Webinars
• Product or Service Launch & Adoption
• Client Education & Training
• Market Expansion & Penetration

Note: the above list is greater than five (5). These are just example areas. While I recommend including the first five on the list, you may want to build a list that includes six or eight areas.

Once you have your list of areas to evaluate, the QQ of the framework provides the evaluation context: quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative evaluation provides objective information and is presented using counts, percentages, and other measurable data that can be tracked, compared, and analyzed.

Qualitative evaluation focuses on the perceptions, opinions, and feelings associated with your marketing. This information can increase the understanding of an area and provide factors not apparent in the “numbers.”

Here’s how to use the 5QQ framework.

Step 1. Identify the marketing areas to include in your evaluation.

Step 2. State the 2023 goals (in general) for this area.

Step 3. Include quantitative information.

Step 4. Include quantitative information.

A high-level example of one evaluation area: Lead Generation & Conversion.

Goal:

• Create and execute 10 contact capture campaigns.
• Capture 1000 new contacts.
• Develop and implement 5 nurture campaigns.
• Nurture 100 contacts into MQL status.
• Increase the contact-to-MQL conversion percentage by 10% every quarter.

 Quantitative:

• Number of campaigns executed.
• Number of contacts captured.
• Number of MQLs
• Conversion percentage (contact to MQL)
• Conversion percentage (MQL to SQL)

 Qualitative:

• Lead Quality (establish a measure with the sales team).
• ICP alignment (how close are our leads to the defined ICP?)
• Momentum (are we getting better at lead generation/conversion?)
• Improvement (are we utilizing contact and lead feedback to improve?)

 After you have built your 5QQ evaluation tool, use it. 

Ask these questions to improve your 2024 planning. 

What do you think worked in 2023? Why?

What do you want to avoid repeating in 2024? Eliminate?

Where should you increase activity? Decrease activity?

The point of the exercise is to help create actionable information and help you produce a better 2024 marketing plan for your technology consulting firm