We will try to define in this post what is a marketing dashboard and also how to design an effective one.

What is a dashboard?

A marketing dashboard is a business control and monitoring system. It is comprised of a number key indicators expressing the performance of the company. This guides the decision taking process to ensure meeting objectives.

A dashboard as part of a marketing plan shows – in an organized way– the objectives set to meet by the specific display of each goal and its evolution through time.

How to develop a marketing dashboard?

Designing a marketing dashboard takes, in the first place, the definition of different perspectives related to the marketing department. The main areas of the dashboard will deal around the 4 P’s of marketing –or marketing mix–: product, price, place, and promotion.

Once main perspectives have beet set, there comes the moment to set the objectives, the actions, and the metrics in the dashboard. An Excel sheet should be fine to tackle the design.

1. Set the big action areas (marketing mix). An instance could be the product/service area.
2. Indicate the objectives set in the Marketing Plan.
   1. Strategy. The strategy to meet our goal could be customer loyalty.
   2. Actions needed to meet the objectives. Some actions such as launching special promotions for our newsletter subscribers may be necessary: “20% discount”.
   3. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators): “Online sales with the promotional code”.
   4. Time for objective meeting: “monthly”.
3. Delegate each of the actions or group of actions to one or more heads of the department.
4. Set a Contingency Plan for each case.
5. Add a text field for eventual observations to be taken into account.