The Importance of a “North Star Metric” (NSM) KPI

The world of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has been a revolutionary one: in a sea of “big data,” these indicators are the ones that companies have identified that actually move the needle and increase traffic to a website. However, a whole list of KPIs can sometimes become overwhelming, and companies experiencing rapid growth cannot always keep their priorities straight as they monitor everything from monthly website visitors to social media engagement to revenue.

Digital marketing agencies like Intero Digital are experienced in distilling your best data down to a single statistic, the one number that indicates true growth and true success for your company. These KPIs are termed “North Star Metrics” (NSM), and the most key aspect of them is that there is only one of them per company. When you figure out your north star metric you can rally the entire company with a simple, clear call to move the needle on this number. Whether it is search engine optimization, social media management, or search engine marketing.

Your North Star Metric will look effortless as soon as it is found, but finding it is very complicated and requires you to interrogate your own company values along with your web analytics. Some key aspects of a North Star Metric KPI include:

• It should fully encompass how your company adds value and what your company wants to do. If you choose, say, unique website visitors, it is possible to increase this number indefinitely without making a meaningful change to revenue, and revenue is probably key to your company’s objectives.
• Usually won’t be revenue; we all want to make more money! It is also a slippery slope to say, “increase revenue at all costs,” since offering overly steep discounts can temporarily boost revenue while putting the company in the red.
• As you track your North Star Metric, the goal is to really only have one, but there is always the possibility that you will realize that this number can grow without your company becoming more successful; in this case, you may have to identify a different metric.
• A good metric, however, will carry your company forward.

Your digital marketing firm should see the big picture as they help you identify marketing metrics and objectives. When working with a skilled digital marketing firm, you’ll completely understand why the metric they are suggesting will help you and your company stay motivated and see growth. Everything important to you will be an important factor to your digital marketing firm. Want help identifying your North Star Metric? Request a free quote from Intero Digital today!

Both online and offline marketing grow exponentially in power by the use of relevance. To maximize relevance you need to create campaigns that speak to what your customer needs and wants. How do you discover these needs and wants? The beauty of combining online and offline marketing is that it becomes easier to gather the data required to increase relevance. Data can be collected online to understand customer interests, but through the use of a powerful point of sales system data about actual customer purchases can be used to build profiles of customer interests, needs and wants. The key now becomes the aggregation of the data to build the best campaign.

If you would like to find out more about merging online and offline marketing, please contact our online marketing team.