How to Do a Simple Monthly Marketing Review

A consistent digital marketing review each month can be transformative for small businesses and decision-makers. By understanding what’s working, where to improve, and what opportunities might be slipping by, you can make data-driven decisions for stronger business growth — without being overwhelmed by complex analytics or jargon.

This guide walks through a straightforward process for running a monthly marketing review. Whether you handle marketing yourself or have a small team, these steps help you focus on essentials and spot trends quickly. The goal: to help you get more value out of your marketing time and budget, with clear next steps for each month.

Why Regular Marketing Reviews Matter

Making marketing decisions based on assumptions or outdated results is risky. Markets change, audience interests shift, and platforms evolve. Without a regular review:

• You might waste money on ineffective channels
• Performance issues can go unnoticed for months
• It’s easy to miss early signs of marketing success (or trouble)
• It’s hard to set realistic goals or celebrate progress

A monthly review keeps you in control, gives you confidence to explain your strategy to stakeholders or staff, and makes it much easier to pivot when needed.

Before You Start: Gather Your Data

Begin by assembling the data you need. For a basic marketing review, focus on core channels. This usually means:

• Your website (Google Analytics, site traffic stats from your platform, etc.)
• Social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, TikTok, etc.)
• Email marketing tools (such as Mailchimp, MailerLite, or similar)
• Online ad account reports (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, etc.) if you advertise

Try to export or record the same set of stats each month, preferably in one spreadsheet or document for easy comparison over time.

Step 1: Review Website and Digital Performance

Your website usually sits at the centre of your digital marketing. Start here to track:

• Total visitors and sessions: Is website traffic trending up, static, or down?
• Traffic sources: Where are your visitors coming from — search engines, social media, direct visits, email campaigns, or referrals?
• Top-performing pages: Which pages attract visitors? Are your product/service pages getting attention?
• Conversions: What key actions (filling a form, calling, purchasing, signing up) are visitors taking?
• Bounce rate & session duration: Are people engaging with your content, or leaving quickly?

You don’t need to be an expert in Google Analytics or tracking dashboards. Focus on observing patterns: Is there progress, decline, or something unexpected? If your website isn’t measuring conversions, consider setting this up soon — it’s essential for understanding marketing effectiveness.

Step 2: Assess Social Media Metrics

Social media can drive awareness and engagement, but not every metric matters equally. For each active social platform, review:

• Audience growth: How has your follower count changed?
• Post reach and impressions: Are your posts being seen?
• Engagement: Look at likes, comments, shares, and saves. Is your content starting conversations or falling flat?
• Referral traffic: Does social media send people to your website? (Check analytics for traffic sources.)
• Key content: Which posts did best — and why? Do they follow a theme, or feature certain topics or media (video, images, etc.)?

Don’t just chase follower numbers — look for signals that your audience is genuinely interested and that your platforms are driving results.

Step 3: Review Email Marketing

If you’re sending email newsletters or campaigns, these metrics are vital:

• Open rate: What percentage of recipients are opening your emails?
• Click-through rate (CTR): Are people taking action by clicking links?
• Unsubscribes and bounces: Is your list healthy and engaged?
• Best performing campaigns: What topics or formats (news, offers, tips) generated the most engagement?

Even with a small list, engaged subscribers can be your most valuable audience. Notice which content brings results, and consider cleaning your list if engagement drops.

Step 4: Examine Paid Campaigns (If Applicable)

Advertising investments need close attention to avoid wasted spend. For any paid campaigns (social, search, display), review:

• Impressions and reach: How many people saw your ads?
• Clicks and CTR: Are people clicking?
• Cost per click (CPC) and cost per conversion: Are you getting value for money?
• Conversion actions: Did your ads deliver the intended action — sales, signups, enquiries?
• Ad creative and targeting: Which visuals, messages, and audience settings performed best?

Even with modest budgets, regular review ensures you only invest in what’s working, and can quickly pause what isn’t.

Step 5: Summarise by Goals and KPIs

Ideally, your marketing activity is aligned with clear goals: more leads, increased sales, brand awareness, community engagement, etc. Link your data to those goals by asking:

• Are you getting closer to your targets?
• What moved the needle this month — and what didn’t?
• Which activities delivered the highest value or impact for effort?

If you haven’t defined marketing objectives or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) yet, use your review data to set practical targets for the next month: a percentage increase in web enquiries, a specific engagement rate, or a number of new signups.

Step 6: Spot Trends, Issues, and Opportunities

This is where you look for the “why” behind the numbers:

• Are there sudden spikes or drops in traffic or engagement?
  • Investigate if a particular campaign, event, or piece of content caused this.
• Are certain channels outperforming others?
  • Consider allocating more time or budget to top-performing platforms.
• Consistent underperformance?
  • It may be time to rethink or pause low-yield channels.
• Are you missing or under-leveraging successes?
  • If one content type, offer, or campaign worked very well, plan to replicate or double-down.
• Audience feedback:
  • Look for direct messages, comments, or questions that can inform your next campaign.

Over time, repeated monthly reviews will highlight seasonality, help you plan for busy periods, and show longer-term shifts in marketing performance.

Step 7: Set Priorities and an Action Plan

Synthesise your findings into a few clear priorities for the next month. For example:

• “Increase website form completions by 10% by promoting our new ebook on social and email.”
• “Test video content on Instagram Stories, based on last month’s engagement.”
• “Pause Google Display Ads and reinvest into LinkedIn Ads for our B2B campaign.”

Make sure each action links to a measurable outcome. Avoid trying to do everything — instead, focus on the two or three activities most likely to deliver improvement.

Step 8: Record, Share and Reflect

Document your review in a simple, central location (spreadsheet, shared drive, or a short email report). This ensures continuity over time, and allows you to:

• Spot trends and review progress each month
• Share insights with staff, partners, or stakeholders
• Stay accountable and adjust quickly when needed

If you’re working solo, use your review period as a moment to reflect. What did you learn? What would you try differently? Regular small adjustments compound over time for big results.

Tips for Easier, More Effective Monthly Reviews

• Automate reports where possible: Many platforms let you schedule reports by email.
• Keep it simple to start: Don’t get bogged down in advanced features or excessive metrics.
• Compare month-over-month and year-over-year: This helps put monthly fluctuations in context.
• Review on a set date each month: Make it part of your business routine.
• Involve others where helpful: Team members may spot insights or suggest ideas you overlook.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Tracking “vanity metrics” only: Focus on numbers that connect to business goals.
• Neglecting smaller channels: Sometimes, niche platforms or email lists outperform larger but less-engaged ones.
• Failing to act on findings: Data with no follow-up won’t improve results.
• Making knee-jerk changes: Isolate genuine trends from one-off anomalies before reallocating resources.

Conclusion: Make Your Review a Catalyst for Growth

A monthly marketing review need not be burdensome or technical. Using the simple steps above, you will build a habit of continuous improvement, with insight-led plans tailored to your business realities. Over time, these regular check-ins can shift your marketing from uncertain “guesswork” to a confident, outcome-focused process that scales with your business.

Remember, the key is consistency. Even just an hour each month spent reviewing the right numbers, asking the right questions, and mapping out clear actions — can produce outsized results over the year.

If you need help with your website, app, or digital marketing — get in touch today at info@webmatter.co.uk or call 07546 289 419.