Among the many advantages digital marketing has over its analog counterpart is the availability of so much data. Companies that offer both digital marketing and SEO services consume data like it’s water. They do so in search of those key metrics that could make the difference in winning or losing the marketing game. But there is a downside: chasing vanity metrics.
Webtek Digital Marketing, a Salt Lake City marketing firm that offers a complete menu of SEO, digital marketing, and web development services, recently wrote a post on this very topic.
They emphasized the need to stop chasing vanity metrics. They define vanity metrics as metrics that look good on paper but offer no real value toward improving marketing and/or SEO.
Webtek’s definition is simple enough to understand. But now, let us take things one step further. Let’s discuss why it’s important for brands to get a handle on vanity metrics.
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No Value Equals Wasted Effort
Chasing metrics that add no value to the marketing or SEO strategy is essentially wasting effort. You could even make the case that you are wasting time, resources, and money on those metrics. Does that seem like a sound business strategy? Absolutely not.
Modern digital marketing has become such a streamlined proposition that brands cannot afford to waste. They need to be lean, mean, and efficient in everything they do – including digital marketing and SEO. There is no room for waste.
Vanity Metrics Are a Distraction
Not only do vanity metrics lead to wasted effort, but they also distract from what is really important. For illustrative purposes, consider the old adage that says beauty is only skin deep. You can dress up the outside to make it as attractive as possible and, in doing so, satisfy your own vanity. But what really matters is on the inside.
The same thing holds true in digital marketing and SEO. Vanity metrics are pretty. They are attractive. They can make a brand believe that its marketing and SEO efforts are paying off.
But what really matters are the actual results. Being distracted from the results by vanity metrics spells trouble. The same way being distracted by a pretty face can ultimately lead to relationship troubles.
Vanity Metrics Skew Results
It should be every marketer’s goal to achieve the desired results for a given marketing campaign. If the primary goal of the campaign is to increase sales by 2%, for example, a sales increase is the prize to keep one’s eye on.
A 10% bump in traffic coming from the other side of the world doesn’t matter if sales don’t go up.
Unfortunately, vanity metrics have a tendency of skewing the results marketers look at. The previous example of a 10% boost in traffic looks really good. It is enough to get most marketers excited. But more traffic from the other side of the world is not the goal. What you are getting excited about amounts to results that don’t matter.
Vanity Metrics Pollute Marketing Strategies
When you put all the previous points together, you are left with one inescapable fact: vanity metrics pollute marketing strategies. They add ingredients that should not be in the recipe. As a result, you wind up with a marketing strategy that never seems to get you where you want it to go.
Chasing vanity metrics is a big problem in modern digital marketing. If brands want to succeed in the marketing arena, they need to get a handle on vanity metrics as soon as possible.
That means identifying them and then setting them aside in favor of metrics that matter.