What is Digital Brand Leadership? What Are the Key Metrics?

WARNING: If you don’t like data, you may want to stop here.

Reflecting on a recent LinkedIn post about Jack Welch’s powerful business KPI philosophy—where he famously stated that if you’re not #1 or #2 in your segment, you should consider getting out and exiting, although still relevant, not every company is as ENORMOUS as GE. I ponder what defines digital market leadership for brands today. Especially now that 90% of the industrialized world has access to some form of the www/app, how can companies or brands assess their digital landscape dominance or relevance?

Revenue and profitability are critical, but what sets a brand apart in the minds of today’s B2C or B2B buyers? Over my many years of experience in brand and digital marketing, I have done, executed and experienced many critical elements marketers are obsessed with—beyond simply competing for market share—is top unaided and aided brand awareness still meaningful.

If unaided awareness is the list of brands that come to a consumer's mind when thinking about a specific product or service category, now in the digital era… What defines digital brand leadership? And how can we measure it?

While adding more KPIs might seem daunting, here are 10 (potentially new) digital metrics to assess your company or brand's digital leadership.

Before I start, allow me to posit a CAVEAT. To access or measure these KPIs, your company must have access or have set up your data ANALYTICS like (not exhaustive) Google Analytics, CRM, Email automation, Social Media tracking, Online survey intercept, 3rd party research, data warehouse,

New Metric	Formula	Benchmark	What is it, and Why is it important?
% E-commerce Penetration	E-commerce Sales / Total Sales	>10%	With 90% of the world online, e-commerce should make up at least 10% of your total sales. If not, it's time to expand your digital footprint.
Digital Profitability	(E-commerce Net Margins % / Total Net Margin %) X 100	1-3 years 80%-90% 3+ years = to 120%+	Measure how profitable your digital channels are compared to your overall profitability. Maturity MATTERS. In the first 3 years invest, the margins WILL grow
Paid Digital Efficiencies	E-commerce % Close Rate / All Paid Campaigns % Close Rate	>100%	How well are your paid digital campaigns converting into sales compared to your ecommerce % close rate?
Website Conversion Rate	(Total Conversions from Website / Total Website Visitors) x 100	>2%	How does your website convert visitors into leads or customers? A higher rate indicates an optimized user experience and effective call-to-action strategies.
Mobile Traffic Percentage	(Mobile Visits / Total Website Visits) x 100	>50%	With mobile usage dominating digital behaviour, this metric measures the proportion of visitors accessing your website via mobile devices. It helps prioritize mobile optimization.
Social Selling (organic)	Top-of-Funnel leads / # of Organic Posts	5%>	How many sales or actions are driven by organic content? This is key for brand social engagement. A variant can be paid social posts to leads.
Digital Share of Voice (SOV)	(Brand Mentions Online / Total Industry Mentions) x 100	>20%	How much is your brand being discussed online compared to competitors? A higher SOV indicates greater brand awareness and influence in your market.
Customer Digital Engagement Rate	(Total Digital Interactions / Total Followers) x 100	>5%	Is your audience engaging with your digital content (likes, shares, comments)? This is a key indicator of brand resonance and customer loyalty in digital spaces.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) from Digital Channels	Average Order Value x Purchase Frequency x Average Customer Lifespan	Increasing Over Time	This tracks the total revenue a customer brings through digital channels over their lifespan with your brand. A growing CLV indicates effective retention strategies and digital engagement.
Content Conversion Rate	(Leads or Sales Generated from Content / Total Content Views) x 100	>3%	How is your digital content converting viewers into leads or customers? This helps gauge the quality and relevance of your content strategy.

For more information, questions, or if you feel OMG, do we have the (right) data but do not know what to do, or do not have the data or do not know how to set it up? I can help. Just email me at max.tremblay@maxtfactordigital.com or visit https://www.maxtfactordigital.com/

About: Max Tremblay has held executive and brand management positions with top-tier Canadian and International companies such as Walt Disney, Heinz, Workopkolis, Yellow Pages, Desjardins Insurance, IG Wealth Management, Green P, and Bike Share Toronto. He has consulted with many enterprises and startups in e-commerce, investments, fintech, media, branded entertainment, and travel. He has a successful track record for profitably building businesses by connecting consumer insights to brand, digital products or services. Leveraging his deep expertise in digital media, CRM, marketing automation, client experience, app/web product development and branding, he successfully led transformational projects that simplified and changed how clients and organizations interact and transact digitally.