The single biggest mistake businesses make when trying to measure their marketing ROI is relying on a basic formula. They think they can simply subtract costs from revenue, but this approach is flawed. It oversimplifies a complex process, fails to account for a customer’s full journey, and can lead to a misallocation of resources. A more effective approach is to build a system that measures both the immediate and the long-term value of your marketing efforts.
My experience has shown me that there are three common mistakes that derail marketing measurement:
1. Focusing Only on Short-Term Gains: It’s tempting to fixate on immediate results, but this approach ignores the long-term value of brand building and customer loyalty. A study by David Long in 2025 noted that companies that prioritize short-term ROI often overlook the sustained profitability that comes from a focus on customer lifetime value (CLV).
2. Over-Reliance on Siloed Data: Many businesses measure each channel individually—PPC ROI, social media ROI, etc. The problem is that a customer’s journey is rarely confined to one channel. As a 2025 report from Not Your Idea highlighted, a fragmented approach can cause channels to “cannibalize one another unknowingly” and can make it impossible to see the big picture.
3. Confusing Correlation with Causation: A spike in sales during a campaign doesn’t always mean the campaign caused the spike. External factors like a competitor’s change or a trending topic can be the real drivers. A 2023 article from Justin Ferriman noted that it is “crucial to consider the broader context” when evaluating your ROI.
To prove your marketing is working, you need to build a system that accounts for all of your efforts and their impact on your business.
1. Go Beyond Revenue: The first step is to redefine what “return” means. It should include both immediate revenue and qualitative returns like brand awareness, customer sentiment, and loyalty. Tools like Google Analytics and social media platforms can help you track these metrics.
2. Prioritize Holistic Attribution: Instead of relying on a single touchpoint to get credit, use a multi-touch attribution model. This gives proper credit to every channel that played a part in the customer journey, from the first time they saw a social media post to the last time they clicked an ad. This provides a far more accurate view of how your channels are working together.
3. Use the Right KPIs: A strong measurement system relies on the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). While clicks and impressions are a good start, they are not enough. Here are some of the most important KPIs to track:
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Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): This measures the total revenue you can expect from a single customer over your entire business relationship. According to a 2025 analysis by Tech Help Canada, CLV is a critical metric for understanding the long-term value of your marketing efforts.
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Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): How much does it cost you to acquire a new customer? By keeping CAC low, you protect your margins and create room for growth.
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Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): How much revenue are you generating for every dollar you spend on advertising? This is a great metric for measuring the short-term success of a specific ad campaign.
Many business leaders believe that if a campaign doesn’t have a direct, high ROI, it’s a failure. The counter-intuitive truth is that some of your most valuable marketing activities may not have a clear ROI at all, at least not in the short term. Brand building, public relations, and thought leadership campaigns are essential for creating a durable business. They create trust, authority, and awareness that pay off in the long run.
The key is to not just measure what’s easy to measure. Create a system that allows you to see the full picture and connect every marketing dollar to a real outcome—whether it’s a sale, a new lead, a loyal customer, or a stronger brand.
FAQs on Puma’s Marketing Strategy
The single biggest mistake is relying on a simple ROI formula that only accounts for short-term revenue. This fails to measure the long-term impact of a campaign and can lead to a lack of investment in valuable brand-building activities.
ROI (Return on Investment) is a broad measure of the profitability of an entire campaign, while ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is a more specific measure that looks at the revenue generated for every dollar spent on a single ad.
CLV is a powerful metric that helps you understand the long-term value of your customers. By knowing your CLV, you can justify a higher customer acquisition cost (CAC) and invest more confidently in your marketing efforts.
While brand building is difficult to measure, you can use metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS), brand awareness surveys, social media sentiment, and direct traffic to your website to track your progress.
A holistic approach helps you see how all of your marketing channels work together. It provides a more accurate view of your customer’s journey and allows you to make more informed decisions about where to invest your marketing budget.
The most common reason for inaccurate ROI reporting is incomplete data. Without a system to track all of your costs and all of your revenue streams, your ROI calculations will be flawed. This is why getting the upfront work right is so critical.
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