PowerUp: Navigating essential KPIs for strong a startup marketing strategy in 2024

Whether you’re the founder of an early-stage startup or in a more established business, you want to measure your business’ progress & have reference points backed by data.

You’re on the right track, you just need to find the right metrics to measure & assess performance.

That’s why having strong KPIs going into 2024 is going to help you more than you know.

KPIs (key performance indicators) are seen as such a buzzword these days but they’re fundamental in all kinds of businesses.

The bad news? Many startups fail to implement these KPIs properly 👎

Today, we’re giving you the must-dos to ensure you set the right KPIs & metrics for your startup so you can kick 2024 off properly.

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🥅 Make sure they’re aligned with your business goals

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Keep them laser-focused. Don’t steer off course just because you’re chasing a higher follower count. If this isn’t going to help you achieve your OKRs, we don’t want to see it.

Example: If your main goal is to increase revenue, your KPIs might include sales growth, customer acquisition or average transaction value metrics.

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⚖️ Measure what actually matters

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It sounds obvious, but many businesses fall into the trap of having KPIs that aren’t relevant to the business. Or at least at the stage of their business. That trap makes startups fall into a kind of “KPI FOMO”, bringing an endless list of metrics of all kinds to their KPI list.

To avoid this, focus on measuring what truly matters to your startup's success.

Example: Tracking the churn rate (% of customers who stop using your product) is critical if you're building a SaaS product. A high churn rate can signal PMF (product market fit) or customer satisfaction issues, both of which need immediate attention.

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📊 Monitor progress & stay agile

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You’re setting KPIs for a reason, so you have to have ongoing monitoring of those metrics to show whether you’re on the right track to reach your goals or drifting away from those.

A good interpretation of KPIs will tell when it’s time to pivot or strive. Stay agile with metrics, your KPIs should allow for agility.

Example: If conversion is one of your KPIs, consider using A/B testing to measure the impact of changes to your website or product features. You can iterate & improve rapidly by continuously testing & analysing metrics like conversion rates.

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💡 Allocate resources efficiently

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One of the beauties of the KPIs is it will help startups with limited resources to know where to allocate those. This isn’t limited to your marketing budget, it also involves areas like team resources distribution.

Example: Back to the example of conversion, if you can see a massive drop across the funnel, you might need to shift some of your devs & product team from another project to a conversion fine-tune.

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📝 Benchmark & learn

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You might have to wear your detective hat here & take some of the industry or competitor metrics in the public domain with a pinch of salt, as these might not be 100% accurate or relevant to your scenario. But you have to make the most of your business intelligence & see how you fare versus the field.

If your "churn rate" is higher than the industry average, it may indicate a need for improved customer retention strategies.

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🙅‍♀️ Avoid vanity metrics

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We gave you a hint before, but this is so important that it deserves its own headline.

While it might be tempting to brag to your team & investors about social media likes or website visitors, these are worthless if they don’t serve your business’s primary goals. And they also slow your team's efforts by letting them focus on the wrong places.

You’re now set with your KPIs. It's time to make the most of those & steer your startup growth in 2024!

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Key takeaways

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👉 The point of KPIs is to collect & use data to make informed decisions, adapt quickly & steer your business accordingly.

👉 Pick your KPIs wisely & avoid setting too many, otherwise, your focus will be diverted & your team will be worn out. They could also lead you into the trap of vanity metrics.

👉 Keep a close eye on your metrics over time & any benchmarks from your industry or competitors.

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