KPIs for Marketing Agencies
These are the KPIs a marketing or creative agency tracks to keep projects profitable and people busy on billable work. Utilisation and realisation are the two that most agencies watch first.
The KPIs to track
Utilisation rate
Billable hours divided by available working hours, showing how much of the team's time is charged to clients.
Realisation rate
The value actually billed divided by the value of the time worked at standard rates, which shows discounts and write-offs.
Project margin
Project revenue minus the cost of the time and direct expenses spent on it, divided by project revenue.
Average effective hourly rate
Revenue divided by total hours worked on it, including unbilled time.
Revenue per employee is annual revenue divided by average headcount, a rough measure of workforce productivity.
Formula and SQL query on the Revenue per Employee page.
Days sales outstanding is the average number of days it takes to collect payment after a sale.
Formula and SQL query on the Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) page.
Client retention rate
The share of clients at the start of a period who are still clients at the end.
Pipeline coverage ratio compares open pipeline value to the quota still left to win.
Formula and SQL query on the Pipeline Coverage Ratio page.
Where the data usually lives
A time-tracking tool, project management software, the invoicing system and the CRM.
Measurement mistakes to avoid
- Unlogged time makes utilisation look lower and project margin look higher than it is.
- Retainers need hours matched to the months they cover, or margin swings between months.
- A few large clients can dominate averages; check concentration alongside margin.
Questions to ask your data
You can type these as plain questions. SchemaChat turns each one into SQL against your connected database or uploaded file, runs it, and shows the SQL and the figures it used so you can check the answer before you share it. Check that the result matches how your business defines each KPI.
- What was utilisation by person and team last month?
- Which projects ran over their budgeted hours?
- What is our margin by client?
- How much of our revenue comes from our five biggest clients?