Twenty years ago, it was all the rage to measure activities and behaviors in service to process improvement. Today, the ability to measure more marketing activities more quickly is actually inhibiting clarity, insight and optimization. This, when there are really only six areas (below) you need to measure on your dashboard. And every item you can measure should be sorted and prioritized in service to a clear, succinct analysis of each of these:

1. What your target does (behavioral engagement such as involvement, interaction, intimacy and influence)
2. The leading indicators of these behaviors (well known to be awareness and sentiment)
3. How efficiently the process driving the above is performing (things like the return from the marketing mix, stickiness on one's Web site, Net Promoter Score)
4. The sales, margin and share outcomes of the above
5. From the above, who are your most profitable customers in each of two camps: share of wallet and share of mouth
6. How you compare in all the above to your competition (hard to determine but gold if you can find it)