Running a business in 2024 is probably one of the hardest things an individual can do. There are just so many things to consider including finance, tax, data, marketing, sustainability, people, technology and algorithms.

However, there is one thing that can help you stay on top of nearly all of these differing pressures and it's something that may appear at first sight to be rather banal - measurement. It is so important to get on top of the figures - whether they be financial, marketing or otherwise.

Over the last few years, we've helped hundreds of businesses right across the South East of England and it has become very clear that measuring the performance of your start-up, charity, CIC or company does not come naturally to many sole traders, directors or entrepreneurs.

In many ways though, the basics of business really haven't changed. You need to understand your customer, what they want, where to find them, the right price point and the correct sales messaging. The difference these days is that you can measure almost all of these to refine your sales strategy.

In our workshops and lessons, we often focus on the digital footprint of an organisation. There are now so many touchpoints, data points and indices we can measure. Gone are the days when the old adage 'half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which
half', held sway.

Now it is almost possible to measure an entire customer acquisition journey from someone first seeing content online, right through to them checking out and the money going into your bank account.

But, and this is a massive but, you HAVE to (a) know what you are measuring and (b) you need to be checking regularly to see what is working and what's not. Nearly all of the data in the image above can be obtained for free - you just need to be using it intelligently.

Equally, should you decide to outsource your social media, marketing or advertising to a consultant or agency, you need to be able to hold them to account. It is very much a case of 'caveat emptor' - buyer beware!

As with all aspects of the DNAsix approach, you need a solid business plan complete with a set of realistic objectives and financial targets. Your marketing plan should then follow on from this and here is where measuring your digital footprint becomes absolutely essential.

To a greater or lesser extent, we're all running data-driven enterprises now. Knowledge is power so the deeper your understanding of your data, the more control you have over how profitable your business is.