There are only two reasons for a marketing report to exist:
To make sure everything’s working and moving in the right direction.
To show what’s working (so we can do more of it) and what’s not (so we can stop wasting time).
Most reports stop at #1. They don’t even say if it’s working. Just numbers and charts and “look at all the things we did.” Almost none hit #2. And that’s the one that actually helps.
How many times a month—or week, or even daily—are you looking at a report (yours or a vendor’s) that’s literally just numbers on a page?
No context. No insight. No direction. Just… data.
If I had a dollar for every one of these I’ve seen, I’d be taking the entire month of August off without a care in the world.
I feel bad for the person who spent hours building one of those polished, cumbersome cornucopias of metrics—because at the end of the day, it’s just a shiny stack of numbers that leaves us with the same question: What now?
Great reports give you a sense of direction. Amazing reports skip the guessing and just say it: Here’s what to do next.
Vendors and agencies—if I have to drop your report into AI and ask it to summarize or give me recommendations… that’s a problem.
One simple fix? Show trends over time. Give the reader something they can actually compare and analyze.
For example—knowing what happened on Instagram last month is only helpful if I can also see what happened the month before… or the same month last year… or even two quarters back.
If the numbers are flat, we’re not growing. If they’re down, something’s broken. If they’re up, great—let’s figure out why so we can keep doing it.
A report should not just tell you what happened. It should tell you what to do next.
If you’re a vendor and your report doesn’t do this—or your success rep can’t deliver that—then what’s the point? And while you’re shaking your head right now going, “that’s not our product,” Trust me… it is. I’ve seen all your reports.
Data is useless if it doesn’t lead to insight. And the insight we want is simple:
Tell me what to do next.
I looked at a social media report the other day. It had all the expected stuff: Number of posts, total engagement, follower growth, a couple trend lines.
What it didn’t have? – A comparison to previous months – A list of what actually worked – A list of what didn’t – Suggestions for what to test next – Anything we should stop doing
If you’re the one creating reports like that—I hope this helps. If you’re paying someone to send you reports like that, send this to them.
Subject line: “What should we do next? Please help.”
(Feel free to cc me. Ha.)
Need help making sense of your reports? Want better ones? Want the kind that don’t just show the work but actually help you do better work?
I got you. 📧 [email protected]
– Rev Ciancio
WHAT DOES REV DO?
I help restaurants build guest marketing programs.
I help hospitality tech companies with lead gen and content marketing.
