Which metrics are traps, and which are treasures?

Like, given there are about 525,600 marketing metrics, which ones are good and which are bad?

Granted, this is a hard thing to ask, for lots of reasons. Metrics are complicated.

That said, there is an easy way to classify metrics that helps show you where to spend your time and money, and where it would be wasted.

On one axis, you have how USEFUL the metrics are. 

On the other axis, you have how HARD they are to measure. 

We end up with four quadrants:

🔸 TOOLS: useful & easy things to have on hand.

🔸 TREASURES: useful & hard things you should make the effort for.

🔸 TRAPS: useless but easy things you’re probably addicted to & should break the habit.

🔸 TEASES: useless but hard things you (hopefully) aren’t tempted to waste time on.

Three big things you can do with this grid:

1. Discuss & debate what’s useful & what’s useless — for YOUR business. There are debates and hype about plenty of these.. So look for credible experts to guide you.

2. Wean yourself from the Traps. They’re addictive & suck up your time & energy.

3. Reinvest those resources to the Treasures. Because even though they’re hard to measure, they’re really really useful. Besides, as the post-it on my bathroom mirror says, “You can do hard things.”