Short answer
A good marketing report shows what was spent, what it produced in bookings, enquiries, orders or revenue, the cost of each outcome, how that compares to last month, and what will change next. It leads with a one-page summary in plain English and is backed by accurate tracking.
What a report should include
- Spend by channel. Google Ads, Meta Ads and anything else, side by side.
- Outcomes. Bookings, enquiries, orders and revenue where it can be measured.
- Cost per outcome. The number that tells you whether a channel is earning its keep.
- Change over time. Month on month and, once you have it, year on year.
- Search and AI visibility. Rankings, Business Profile activity and whether AI tools mention you.
- What we learned. Which offers, creative and audiences worked, and which did not.
- The plan. What changes next month, and why.
Five red flags
1. The headline is impressions or reach
Big numbers that do not connect to revenue are filler.
2. No mention of tracking
If nobody has checked that bookings are counted correctly, the rest of the report is built on sand.
3. Every month is a win
Real marketing has bad months. A report that never admits one is not being straight with you.
4. Screenshots instead of analysis
Pasting platform dashboards into a PDF is not reporting. Interpretation is the job.
5. You do not own the data
Your ad accounts, analytics and dashboards should be in your name, always.
This is how we approach reporting for every client. If you want to know whether your current tracking is accurate, start with a free audit.