Monthly Marketing Meeting
May 2026 — Performance review, campaign updates, and next steps
May 2026 Agenda
- 01Marketing Status & PrioritiesWhat launched, what's in flight, and what needs action.
- 04Paid Media PerformanceLinkedIn and Google Ads results for April.
- 02Business & Marketing Goals2026 targets, KPIs, and Q1 progress.
- 05Content PerformanceWebsite traffic, engagement, and channel breakdown.
- 03Lead Review & HighlightsInsight Engine lead data — to be added with Salesforce export.
- 06Email PerformanceApril newsletter and campaign metrics.
- 07Client Updates & Monthly RetrospectiveUpcoming events, anything affecting marketing efforts, and what went well this month.
Active and completed work across all channels
Completed Since Last Meeting
- April NewsletterDeployed April 28 — 5,249 sent, 27.4% open rate
- April Webinar: AI in ActionFollow-up emails deployed April 27 (attendee + non-attendee segments)
- May Webinar: Building Products You Can TrustLanding page, promo email series, and LinkedIn ads approved & launched
- Drupal White Paper (FO-095)Content finalized and sent to Forum One for review — May 7
- Building Products Gated Asset (FO-092)Copy approved and task completed May 6
Awaiting Forum One Action
- CEO AI Discoverability Article (FO-087)Reworked for Forum One audience — in client review, no update as of May 4
- Data Article Refreshes (FO-068)Placed on hold per Forum One direction — May 4
- May Webinar LinkedIn Ad — Version CUpdated photo variant (enterprise-focused) sent May 7 — awaiting approval
In Development — Newfangled
- May Webinar Follow-Up (FO-094)Email build in progress — due May 21
- White Paper Nurture Series (FO-096)Drupal white paper AEP — targeting May 14–26 activation
- Government Sector Nurture Campaign (FO-098)June 2 launch target — copy and strategy review underway
- June Webinar: Design Systems (FO-100)Landing page in development — targeting June 1–5 launch
- May Newsletter (FO-072)Content development in progress — due May 28
2026 targets and where we stand
2026 Business Goals
- $26M overall sales target — $4.5M allocated to new client acquisition
- 20 new client wins annually (5 per quarter), average deal size ~$225K
- 72 new opportunities opened per year (6/month)
2026 Marketing KPIs
- KR1: 75 MQLs per month (225/quarter)
- KR2: 8 SQLs per month (24/quarter) — based on 21% estimated close rate
- KR3: 160 new leads per month (480/quarter) — based on 5% new lead → SQL rate
Q1 2026 Snapshot (Finalized April 8)
- 2 new deals closed — $456K revenue (10% of annual target)
- 26 new opportunities opened — 108% of Q1 target ✓
- 167 MQLs — 74% of 225 Q1 target; 47 of 57 total leads came from webinars
- Q2 priority: close-rate improvement — strong top-of-funnel not yet converting to closed business at target pace
103 new leads in April — 16 new MQLs, 2 new SQLs
75 active MQLs and 7 active SQLs in the system. Email and LinkedIn driving the majority of new leads.
103
New Leads — April
Act-On / Email: 50 · LinkedIn (paid): 25
Direct: 11 · Google: 8 · Other: 9
64% of 160/mo KR3 target
16
New MQLs — April
75 active MQLs in system · 140 total conversions · 21% of 75/mo KR1 target
2
New SQLs — April
7 active SQLs in system · 25% of 8/mo KR2 target · Salesforce pipeline view to follow
Featured Leads — April 2026
Email — highest engagement of any April lead
Act-On nurture — repeat engagement over time
Email nurture
Bing (organic) — 11 pages, genuine research behavior
Email and Act-On nurture programs are driving nearly half of new leads — a strong signal that the investment in nurture infrastructure is compounding. LinkedIn paid continues to add qualified volume at $54 avg CPL. MQL numbers are below the 75/month target, which is typical in months without a webinar until late in the period — the April 23 AI in Action webinar will factor into May's counts as follow-up sequences activate.
April 2026 — $2,177 spend, 32 conversions across LinkedIn and Google
LinkedIn Ads — April 2026
- Spend: $1,683 · 31 leads · Avg. CPL: $54
- 164 clicks · 36,264 impressions · CTR: 0.45%
| Campaign | Leads | CPL |
|---|---|---|
| How-to Guide: Communicating Data | 17 | $33 |
| AI in Action Webinar (paused) | 6 | $83 |
| Climate Narrative Report | 6 | $30 |
| Bringing AI to Life (ABM) | 1 | $266 |
| Website Not Your Front Door (ABM) | 1 | $173 |
Google Ads — April 2026
- Spend: $494 · 1 conversion · CPL: $494
- 71 clicks · 1,165 impressions · CTR: 6.09%
- Role: Branded protection & keyword coverage for digital transformation search terms
- Top converting keywords: nonprofit digital strategy, strategies for nonprofit organizations, UX design
LinkedIn remains the primary lead generation engine — $54 average CPL is within the $250 target benchmark and well below Q1 performance. The Communicating Data campaign is the clear standout at $33 CPL with 17 leads. Google Ads continues in a branded protection role at reduced budget ($500/month).
Recommendations and next steps
Active Campaigns
- May 14 Webinar promotion is live on LinkedIn — targeting CTOs and VPs of Engineering on AI production reliability
- May Webinar LinkedIn Ad Version C (enterprise-focused photo) awaiting Forum One approval — share feedback this week
- June 17 Design Systems Webinar promotional campaigns in development
Recommendations
- Continue nurturing the AI in Action webinar audience — even without direct conversions from that campaign, the audience has engagement history worth retargeting
- Consider video recap/key takeaway ad creative post-webinar — using recorded content as LinkedIn ad creative has shown strong results for this audience
- ABM campaigns (Bringing AI to Life, Website Not Your Front Door) generating 1 lead each at high CPL — worth a conversation on whether these Dream Client targets are engaging or if creative refresh is warranted
April 2026 — 5,766 sessions, 243 conversions
Site-Wide Overview
- 5,766 sessions · 4,505 total users · 4,333 new users (96%)
- 16,544 pageviews · 2.87 pages/session · 2m 49s avg. session duration
- 90.3% engagement rate — strong signal that visitors who arrive are staying and exploring
- 243 total conversions — driven primarily by direct (114) and organic search (65)
Traffic by Channel
| Channel | Sessions | Conversions | CVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct | 2,902 | 114 | 3.93% |
| Organic Search | 1,703 | 65 | 3.82% |
| 562 | 32 | 5.69% | |
| Referral | 337 | 19 | 5.64% |
| Organic Social + Paid | 188 | 9 | 4.79% |
April 2026 — newsletter and campaign results
April Newsletter — Apr 28
- 5,249 sent · 98.5% delivery rate ✓
- 27.4% open rate — above the 20–25% industry benchmark
- 0.82% CTR · 3.04% CTOR
April Webinar Follow-Up — Apr 27
- Version A (Attendees): 38 sent · 65.8% open rate · 16% CTOR
- Version B (Non-attendees + list): 5,231 sent · 25.6% open rate · 4.3% CTOR
- Both versions exceeded benchmark open rates
Industry Benchmarks
- Delivery Rate: 98% · Forum One: 98.5% ✓
- Open Rate: 20–25% · Forum One: 27.4% ↑
- CTR: 3–5% · Forum One: 0.82% (below benchmark)
- CTOR: 12% · Forum One: 3.04% (below benchmark)
The April newsletter's 27.4% open rate is a meaningful improvement — the audience is growing and engaging. Click-through remains below benchmarks, which points to an opportunity in CTA placement and link strategy within the email body. The attendee-only webinar follow-up (65.8% open rate, 16% CTOR) shows that highly targeted, personalized sends perform dramatically better than broadcast sends.
Anything upcoming we should know about?
Updates from Forum One
- Any upcoming events, launches, or announcements we should factor into marketing efforts?
- Any changes to sales priorities, target verticals, or messaging emphasis for Q2?
- Anything that would impact timing or scope of campaigns in development?
Monthly Retrospective
- What went well this month?
- Was anything confusing or concerning?
- Is there any way we can better support you?
The information contained in this presentation is privileged and confidential.
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