As the new financial year opens this week, agencies will be clamouring to make themselves heard across social, print and online media in a bid to grab a piece of that pie.

But does a new financial year mean good news for everyone?  Well, obviously not.  Some companies will be releasing poor end-of-financial year statements, share prices will drop, and budgets (and jobs) will be lost.  Look at Investment Banks whom have had their worst start to the year since 2009.

So the questions in either circumstance are: do you know what’s coming and are you confident that you are providing value for money? 

I can say with utmost certainty that unless you have been monitoring your KPIs against an initial benchmark and know your numbers inside-out then this is going to be very difficult to prove.

Why am I so bold to say that? Because our business is focused on validating digital commercial and marketing KPIs and many MANY people fail to understand how they are performing in the overall sector and against competitor sets.  Until March/April that is.  When the headlines come out.

So, in order to get rid of that uncertainty and to avoid scrabbling around in springtime for evidence of worth – track it as you go along.  It’s logical.  It takes investment, sure, but think of the potential returns…