It is very important to have a clear, defined and well-documented marketing strategy , establishing the next objectives to follow through OKRs . On the other hand, some people confuse these results with KPIs , even changing one for another. This confusion of concepts can lead to an incorrect direction of your actions, which causes you to waste time and money.
In this article we clarify these doubts by explaining:
- What does OKR mean?
- What is a KPI?
- OKR vs KPI: What’s the difference?
- Why are both important?
- How to use OKRs and KPIs in your strategy?
By the end of this reading, you’ll know how to choose and apply goals and metrics to improve your results, how to attract your buyer persona , increase sales , scale your business, and much more!
What does OKR mean?
OKR stands for Objective and Key Results , a paraguay phone number list methodology used by companies to define expected results. In practice, when you set an OKR, you create a set of desired objectives, i.e. a qualitative description of the group of results to be achieved.
With this methodology, companies are able to focus on the areas they consider most important for improvement. That is, instead of creating dozens of objectives and getting lost among them, one objective is achieved at a time, focusing all the team’s efforts on what is key for the company to advance to the next level.
Consider that the main objective is to present a subjective desire, while the key results show what the success of this action would be. For example, let’s imagine that a SaaS company would like its customers to be brand ambassadors.
In this case, “getting the customer to fall in love with the software” is the goal. But what can be done to make that happen? How can this result be achieved?
This is where key results come into play . A goal can have a set of actions that together achieve the expected result. In our example, it could be:
- Reduce turnover by 5%;
- Perform three monthly software updates;
- Achieve NPS in the zone of excellence.
What is a KPI?
KPI is short for Key Performance Indicator, a performance metric to show whether organizational objectives are being achieved.
Have you noticed that key results use what is digital marketing the SMART methodology ? It turns out that these goals need to be real and achievable, and the KPI comes into that story to measure them.
Moreover, it becomes even more efficient when implemented in marketing automation . Take a look at some examples of KPIs on this slide:
There is no point in copying KPIs from other companies, let alone defining them without OKRs. Otherwise, you risk analyzing metrics that are not relevant to what the company wants to achieve. Below are some examples of KPIs used in marketing:
- average ticket
- traffic source
- conversion rate
- lead acquisition
- delivery time, and many others.
OKR vs KPI: What’s the difference?
The idea of OKRs is to help relate asb directory desire to a strategy, allowing you to continuously improve until you reach the expected result. That’s why OKRs work like a GPS that indicates the best path to follow.
On the other hand, KPIs are a kind of graphical display of the conditions for following the planned course, as if it were the car dashboard that accompanies the GPS, showing mileage, amount of fuel, among other details, for example.
Have you noticed that, although they are different, OKRs and KPIs are related ? That’s why there is no one better than the other, as both depend on what your team wants to achieve and what needs to be measured. When used together, it is possible to define more precise goals, while fine-tuning that “radar”.
Why are both important?
As we have seen, by having reliable and accurate measurements of the actions being implemented, it is easier to evaluate the results and understand what to do about them. Therefore, it is interesting for you to understand why it is worth combining OKRs and KPIs in your marketing strategy.
OKRs allow you to focus on essential results
Considering that we have a large amount of data generated in Digital Marketing strategies, when you do not correctly define the key results of what you want to achieve, you run a serious risk of losing focus and analyzing metrics that are not directed to what the company wants.
For example, what is the point of measuring the number of social media interactions? What are you trying to understand with this metric? Or, if the main goal is to reduce the cost per lead acquisition, it would be ideal to focus on this score when setting up the lead score , rather than worrying about the NPS numbers at the moment.
That is, OKRs help you decide what you need to look at to achieve results. That’s why it’s important to have a unified direction in marketing planning . In this way, by implementing the OKR methodology, you achieve:
- agility in managing results, allowing for rapid identification of what needs to be improved;
- team participation encouraging everyone to be aligned with the key results ;
- transparency between those involved, providing more autonomy by virtue of the correct distribution of goals;
- performance and productivity, because with OKRs, everyone is clear about their responsibility.
KPIs define what should be monitored
KPIs serve to provide more accurate answers about the success of your results. In the end, with so much information generated, you must decide which index is able to indicate your performance. These values are essential to show whether your expectations are being met.
Furthermore, by focusing on these numbers, you can know whether or not you are achieving your goals before the deadline for that OKR ends. It’s like adjusting the steering while the vehicle is moving, after all, it allows you to evaluate the current situation and make predictions of future scenarios taking into account the probabilities.
Another reason to use KPIs is to have the flexibility to move important metrics into the strategy. You can include, exclude, and further detail performance indicators as you feel the need to learn more about the next steps.
In short, by establishing efficient KPIs in your marketing strategy, you can:
- analyze whether the actions taken are having the desired effect;
- identify the main points that need improvement;
- detect quantitative data and measure it, comparing it with the expected results;
- optimize decision making by observing the indicated indices;
- align teams to the set goals, ensuring that everyone is in harmony with the main objective.
Now that you understand how important it is to use OKRs and KPIs in your strategic planning , we now need to talk about how to create goals and indicators relevant to what you want to achieve. Let’s go.