A marketing dashboard is a report that lets you view your marketing campaign data and website metrics. There are many benefits to using marketing dashboards. A difference between using them over monthly or weekly reporting is that they are updated in real-time to see up-to-date results. With marketing analytics dashboards, you can change the date range to see results from past months and years.
Marketing dashboards display data from different sources, which makes them superior to using Google Analytics alone. With these analytical dashboards, we can view data from many sources:
- Google Analytics, Search Console, Ads, and Sheets
- YouTube, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Criteo, Taboola, Pinterest, and Snapchat Paid Search Ads
- Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter Organic Insights
- CallRail
- HubSpot
- Search Engine Rankings
- Mailchimp
- Constant Contact
- And more!
Once we have all the information we need for a client, we blend the metrics in our Looker Studio (Formerly known as Data Studio) marketing dashboards for better insights. For instance, we can combine user impressions data from Google and Facebook Ads, including Instagram, LinkedIn, and Programmatic for a holistic view of how many impressions a website is receiving. This is an incredibly important metric that other marketing agencies do not report on often.
With a great marketing dashboard, it’s no longer necessary to review reports in different places from different sources. Having all of your data in one marketing dashboard provides a single source of truth in reporting, eliminating discrepancies.
Marketing Dashboard Features
Marketing dashboards can have data tables, graphs, maps, pivot tables, and many other charts. We can embed web content, including Google documents, spreadsheets, and other web pages. Advanced filtering, sorting, and customizable date ranges are also features that we incorporate in our Looker Studio dashboards.
Typically, marketing and analytics dashboards include a summary page that will display the current month’s results. This is convenient for a quick check-in to see performance. Following the summary page, we include pages that display the results by month dating back two to three years if the data is applicable.
Marketing dashboards show graphs and data tables to spot trends easily and understand if impressions, sessions, or conversions from each medium are moving in the right direction. Our marketing dashboards can include at least one page for each of the following:
- Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Programmatic Ads
- Organic Search Results
- Google Search Console Data
- Google Rankings and Ranking Trends
- Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Email Marketing Insights
For every graph and data table, there is the option to export the data to a comma-separated values (CSV) file. This is helpful for clients when they want to take action with information outside of the dashboard. One feature we add to every page is a running list of the work completed for each month and information from our various strategists about the results. Here we document our recommendations for where to pivot and the work that has been completed. This aspect is what our team reviews the most when we are on our regularly scheduled client calls.
Another key feature for every marketing dashboard is to have callouts for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at the top of every page. By having colorful graphs, the KPIs will quickly show our clients where they are for the period and how they are doing month-over-month or year-over-year.
Why are Marketing Dashboards Important?
Marketing dashboards are essential for companies utilizing any form of digital marketing to drive traffic and conversions on a website. Our online marketing dashboards can also help track offline and traditional marketing tactics when vanity URLs and landing pages are used to make measurement possible. The data collected helps businesses and agencies to understand the results and strategize about where to pivot.
Pivoting helps to eliminate wasted media spend and to increase conversion rates. The ultimate goal for every client is to boost brand awareness, increase website traffic or conversions, including leads, sales, or other actions. Understanding the detailed metrics from all of your marketing campaigns and efforts will help everyone adjust faster and align.
The Zero Gravity Marketing Approach
Most digital marketing agencies are now using marketing dashboards, but we believe ours are a cut above the rest. We completely customize reports based on our client’s preferences and goals. Marketing dashboards can be as detailed as you would like and utilize a combination of data tables and graphs to help you understand the information presented. We have a unique marketing dashboard approach for eCommerce, B2B marketing, and more for all the brands we work with.
Our marketing dashboards can include data from any application programming interface (API) or CSV and can build out custom integrations with other sources. This automatically collects the data via email or other resources. The Zero Gravity Marketing (ZGM) team can ensure your marketing dashboard will be in-depth and tailored to your business.
Custom Marketing Dashboard Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Looker Studio (aka Data Studio) is a free platform for reporting from Google. You can create marketing dashboards with data from Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google Search Console, and more. A paid Supermetrics license is needed to include ad information from social platforms such as Facebook or Instagram. We have also built a custom Moz integration to gather your data, with the current rank and graph showing historical rankings.
The easiest way to create a marketing dashboard is to begin with a template. Here are the steps you will want to take:
- Make sure you have the logins for all of your data sources.
- Find a Looker Studio marketing dashboard template that best suits your needs.
- Click Make a Copy of This Report at the top of the template.
- Replace the data sources with your own. If you want to include ad data from social platforms, remember, you’ll need a Supermetrics license.
- Click Edit, rename the dashboard, replace the logo at the top, and customize the colors to your preference.
- Remove any data sources that do not belong in the dashboard under Resources > Manage Added Data Sources.
- Customize each page of the dashboard to show the most important metrics and display them with data tables, graphs, or both.
- Finally, click the share button and your team will have access to the data.
Contact our ZGM team for help setting up your dashboard.
Include a summary of all of the results on the first page of your marketing dashboard. The data range should be customizable; however, the default can be current or recent month or year to date. This summary shows you how your results are performing across all marketing channels.
On a separate page in the marketing dashboard, include data tables and graphs that show the long history of results over time with sessions and conversions by medium. You can also track engagement metrics such as bounce rate, time on site, etc. Having this on a different page is helpful because the date range will need to be different, and the automatic date range controls effect every page’s graph.
Make sure to include a section for each dashboard specific to individual marketing efforts. Metrics from the campaigns should also be listed. Ensure you’re tagging your URLs using UTM parameters; you should have no problem getting this data with some simple filters set within Looker Studio.
Custom Marketing Dashboards with Zero Gravity Marketing
Marketing dashboards help agencies work with their clients to efficiently align and collaborate on strategies. With transparency being ZGM’s #1 priority, marketing dashboards provide exactly that by showing live results directly from the source. Looking to clean up your data and work with a full-service digital agency that specializes in custom marketing dashboards? Reach out to us today!
