For marketing managers

Marketing managers need to prove that campaigns generate revenue, not just leads. This requires tracking goals across the entire funnel from impressions to customers, measuring progress toward those goals, building dashboards that show marketing's impact, and reviewing performance to identify what's working and what needs adjustment.

This chapter configures marketing goal tracking, implements performance measurement across key metrics, creates dashboards that prove marketing ROI, and establishes review processes that ensure continuous improvement.

Marketing without measurement is just spending money. Marketing with measurement is investing in revenue growth.

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Goals define success. Without goals, you can't tell if performance is good or bad.

Define marketing goals

Navigate to Reports > Goals > Create goal.

HubSpot supports goals for:

• Revenue generated
• Deals created
• Contacts created
• MQLs generated
• SQLs generated
• Website traffic
• Email engagement

Create goals for metrics that matter to your business.

Goal 1: MQL generation

Goal type: Lifecycle stage changes

Metric: Number of contacts who become Marketing Qualified Leads

Target: 250 MQLs per month

Time period: Monthly (recurring)

Assigned to: Marketing team

This goal tracks whether marketing is generating enough qualified leads to feed sales.

Goal 2: Marketing-sourced revenue

Goal type: Deal revenue

Metric: Closed Won revenue where original source is marketing channel

Target: £500k per quarter

Time period: Quarterly

Assigned to: Marketing team

This goal proves marketing's impact on actual revenue, not just lead volume.

Goal 3: Website traffic

Goal type: Website sessions

Metric: Total sessions to website

Target: 50,000 sessions per month

Time period: Monthly

Assigned to: Marketing team

Traffic goals are leading indicators - more traffic should eventually generate more leads.

Goal 4: Email engagement

Goal type: Email clicks

Metric: Total email clicks across all campaigns

Target: 2,000 clicks per month

Time period: Monthly

Assigned to: Email marketing manager

This measures whether email campaigns are driving engagement.

Cascade goals to individuals

Team goals should cascade to individual contributors:

Team MQL goal: 250/monthIndividual goals: If you have 3 marketers, assign 80-85 MQLs per person per month.

Create individual goals: Navigate to Goals > Create goal > Assign to specific user.

This creates accountability. Each marketer knows their target and can track progress.

Goals are useless if no one checks progress. Build systems to monitor goal attainment.

Goal progress dashboard

Navigate to Reports > Goals > View all goals.

HubSpot shows progress toward each goal as percentage complete.

Example: MQL goal is 250 for December. As of December 15th, 180 MQLs generated = 72% to goal.

Is this on track? Calculate expected pace: 15 days / 31 days = 48% through the month. If you're at 72% of goal with 48% of time elapsed, you're ahead of pace.

Goal tracking reports

Create reports showing goal progress over time:

Report: MQL generation trend

Create report > Contacts.

Metrics: Count of contacts where lifecycle stage changed to MQL

Date range: Last 6 months (monthly breakdown)

Visualisation: Line chart showing MQL volume each month.

Add goal line: Show the 250/month target as horizontal line. Months above the line are wins. Months below are misses.

This shows trends: Is MQL generation growing, stable, or declining?

Report: Goal attainment by team member

If you assigned individual goals, create report showing attainment:

Create report > Contacts.

Metrics: Count of MQLs by marketing owner

Filters: Lifecycle stage changed to MQL this month

Segmented by: Marketing owner

Add each person's individual goal as comparison column.

Shows who's hitting targets (green) and who's behind (red).

Weekly goal check-ins

Don't wait until month-end to discover you're behind. Check goal progress weekly in team meetings.

Every Monday: Pull goal progress report. Show team where they stand. If behind pace, discuss:

• What's causing the shortfall?
• What can we do this week to catch up?
• Do we need to adjust tactics?

If ahead of pace, discuss:

• What's working that we should do more of?
• Can we raise the goal for next month?

Create dashboards that show marketing performance at a glance.

Marketing overview dashboard

Create dashboard: "Marketing overview."

Share with: Marketing team, Sales team, Leadership.

Report 1: Funnel metrics

Shows progression through marketing funnel.

Create report: Funnel visualization.

Stages:

1. Website visitors (sessions)
2. Leads (contacts created)
3. MQLs (lifecycle stage = MQL)
4. SQLs (lifecycle stage = SQL)
5. Opportunities (deals created)
6. Customers (deals closed-won)

Filters: Time period = This quarter

This shows where drop-offs occur. If you have 10,000 visitors but only 200 leads, your lead capture rate is 2% (low). If you have 200 leads but only 50 MQLs, your lead quality or nurturing needs work.

Report 2: Traffic by channel

Shows which channels drive website traffic.

Create report > Website analytics.

Metrics: Sessions

Segmented by: Source (Organic Search, Paid Search, Social Media, Direct, Referral, Email)

Filters: Date range = This month

Visualisation: Pie chart or bar chart.

This reveals which channels are working. If organic search drives 60% of traffic, SEO is your most important channel and deserves continued investment.

Report 3: Lead generation by campaign

Shows which campaigns generate leads.

Create report > Contacts.

Metrics: Count of contacts created

Segmented by: Original source campaign

Filters: Created date = This quarter

Shows which specific campaigns (webinars, ebooks, ads) generate the most leads. Double down on high-performing campaigns.

Report 4: MQL to customer conversion rate

Shows whether marketing-generated leads actually become customers.

Create report > Contacts.

Calculation: (Count of contacts who are customers) / (Count of contacts who became MQL) × 100

Filters: Became MQL date is this quarter

Example: 250 contacts became MQL this quarter, 25 became customers = 10% conversion rate.

Track this rate over time. If it's increasing, lead quality is improving. If declining, you're generating more leads but lower quality.

Report 5: Marketing ROI

Shows revenue generated vs marketing spend.

Create report > Deals.

Metrics:

• Sum of Closed Won revenue (where original source is marketing)
• Marketing spend (manually entered or pulled from ad platform integrations)

Calculation: ROI = (Revenue - Spend) / Spend × 100

Example: £100k in marketing spend generated £500k in revenue = 400% ROI.

This is the report that proves marketing's value to CFO and CEO.

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Use data to continuously improve marketing performance.

Monthly marketing review meeting

Schedule monthly review with marketing team (60 minutes).

Agenda:

1. Goal attainment review (10 min)

Did we hit last month's goals?

• MQL goal: Yes/No
• Revenue goal: Yes/No
• Traffic goal: Yes/No

If missed, why? What was the gap?

2. Campaign performance (20 min)

Review all campaigns launched last month:

• Which generated the most leads?
• Which had best MQL conversion rate?
• Which drove revenue?
• Which underperformed?

Decision: Which campaigns to continue? Which to kill? Which to scale?

3. Channel performance (15 min)

Review each marketing channel:

• Organic search: Traffic trend, lead generation, ROI
• Paid advertising: Cost per lead, conversion rates, ROI
• Content marketing: Pageviews, engagement, lead generation
• Email: Open rates, click rates, conversions
• Social media: Reach, engagement, traffic driven

Decision: Shift budget toward high-ROI channels, reduce or eliminate low-ROI channels.

4. Funnel analysis (10 min)

Review funnel conversion rates:

• Visitor to lead rate
• Lead to MQL rate
• MQL to SQL rate
• SQL to customer rate

Identify drop-off points. Set experiments to improve weakest conversion rate.

5. Next month's plan (5 min)

Based on this month's data:

• What campaigns will we launch next month?
• What budget shifts are we making?
• What experiments are we running?

Document decisions. Commit to actions.

Quarterly strategy review

Every quarter, step back for strategic review (2 hours).

Questions to answer:

1. Are we attracting the right audience?

Analyse demographics of leads generated:

• Company size
• Industry
• Job titles
• Geography

Do these match your ideal customer profile? If not, adjust targeting in ads, content topics, and channel focus.

2. Which campaigns have lasting impact?

Some campaigns generate immediate leads but no long-term value (one-time event). Other campaigns generate sustained value (evergreen content that generates leads for months).

Identify which campaigns continue generating leads months after launch. Invest more in evergreen content and sustainable channels.

3. What's our cost per customer?

Calculate: Total marketing spend / Number of customers generated.

Example: £300k quarterly marketing spend, 60 customers generated = £5k cost per customer.

Is this acceptable relative to customer lifetime value? If LTV is £50k and cost per customer is £5k, you're in great shape (10:1 ratio). If LTV is £10k and cost per customer is £8k, margins are too thin.

4. Where should we invest next quarter?

Based on performance data, decide:

• Which channels to scale (highest ROI)
• Which campaigns to repeat (proven winners)
• Which experiments to run (test new channels, tactics, messages)
• Which activities to stop (proven losers, low ROI)

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Your marketing goals and performance tracking are now configured. Team goals define success, progress tracking shows whether you're on pace, dashboards prove marketing's impact on revenue, and regular review processes ensure continuous improvement based on data.

Marketing is no longer a cost centre - it's an investment with measurable returns. You can show leadership exactly how much revenue each campaign generates, which channels have the best ROI, and where additional budget should be allocated.

Next, we'll configure sales goals and revenue forecasting so you can predict whether the sales team will hit their targets.

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