Every organisation can produce a chart that goes up. Followers rise, impressions rise, traffic rises, and none of it tells you whether you own anything, whether it costs less than last year, or whether anyone will pay for it.
These are the six questions I use instead. Each one takes a claim you will hear in a review, and replaces it with a ratio, a durability test, or a cash figure.
1. The growth claim
"Our audience grew 12 percent this year."
Ask: how much did we spend to get that growth, and what happens to it if we spend nothing next quarter?
A good answer: two numbers, separately. Growth we paid for, and growth we did not. If nobody can split them, nobody knows what we own.
2. The reach claim
"We reached 40 million people."
Ask: what did a thousand of those people cost us, and what did they cost three years ago?
A good answer: a number that has gone down. Reach that gets more expensive every year is a habit, not a strategy.
3. The traffic claim
"Traffic is up."
Ask: how much of it comes through channels we control, and how much depends on one platform?
A good answer: a percentage, and it is rising. If one platform sends more than half, that platform sets your budget, not you.
4. The volume claim
"We published 300 pieces of content."
Ask: what did the average one achieve, and is that average going up or down?
A good answer: volume down, average up. Publishing more is what teams do when they have not decided what to say.
5. The comparison claim
"We're up 12 percent."
Ask: how much did our market grow?
A good answer: a comparison. Growing slower than your category is a decline with better lighting.
6. The community claim
"We have a highly engaged community our partners love."
Ask: how much did it invoice last year, and can you show me what we delivered to each partner?
A good answer: a cash figure and a delivery report. An audience nobody has paid for is a cost centre with good PR.
Every one of these, I can answer for my own record. In my final year at the FEI we cut paid media spend by 78 percent and the audience still grew by 7 percent; 81 percent of our video consumption ran through channels we owned; and the media offer built on that inventory booked over CHF 1 million in its first ten months. That is the difference between a manifesto and a demonstration.
If a decision like this is coming to your board, start with a conversation.