Stop drowning in data - how to separate what actually matters from the noise
Original: TMAI #448: 🎯Get KPIs Right! And, Metrics + Influencing Variables.
May 29, 2025
9 min read
Framework
Intermediate
Summary
Foundational concepts and best practices for defining, categorizing, and documenting key performance indicators (KPIs) and other business metrics. Covers the taxonomy of leading vs. lagging, input vs. output, and actionable vs. vanity metrics, as well as establishing naming conventions and a single source of truth for metric definitions.
Who This Is For
Marketing Analysts
Marketing Managers
Consultants
Key Takeaways
- Learn to classify business numbers into three distinct buckets: KPIs (direct bottom-line impact), Diagnostic Metrics (explain the why), and Influencing Variables (explain performance drivers)
- Understand why limiting your business to just 4 KPIs maximum prevents analysis paralysis and keeps leadership focused on what truly moves the needle
- Master the 11-dimension framework that helps you categorize and organize metrics hierarchically - from CMO-level KPIs down to tactical influencing variables
- Discover how proper metric separation prevents agencies and teams from confusing low-level variables with high-impact business indicators
- Get a systematic approach to building metric hierarchies where multiple influencing variables explain metrics, and multiple metrics explain each KPI
Tools & Technologies
Business dashboards CMO scorecards Marketing platforms Agency reporting tools
Topics Covered
metrics kpis taxonomy definitions
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