Analytics in marketing need more than just fancy software. In order to make sense of their data, marketing departments require a plan. Here is how marketing analytics often play out in the real world.
1. Figure out what you want to track.
Figure out exactly what you want to achieve with your marketing. Start with your marketing strategy's general goal, and then start breaking it down into individual campaigns and marketing channels. Metrics can include return on investment, conversion rate, click rate, and company awareness. Along the way, you should also set goals and milestones that will help you assess and change your marketing strategies.
2. Use a good mix of analytical tools and methods.
To get the most out of marketing analytics, you'll need a mix of techniques and tools that work well together. Use metrics to:
Talk about the past. Using methods that look at the past, you can answer questions like, "Which parts of the campaign brought in the most money last quarter?" How did campaign A's use of social media compare to campaign B's use of direct mail? How many more leads did this talk series bring in than that radio season?
Look at the here and now. Find out how well your marketing efforts are doing right now. How do people interact with us? Which outlets do our best customers like to use? Who and where is talking about us?
Predict or change what will happen. Marketing analytics can help you make predictions about the future that are based on facts. You can answer questions like, "How can loyalty be made out of short-term wins?" How will adding more salespeople to areas that aren't doing well affect sales? What city should we go after next?
One of our favorite analytical tools is Google Analytics, it's free, and it's comprehensive.
3. Figure out what your analytical skills are and fill in the holes.
There are a lot of different tools for marketing data, so it can be hard to know which ones you really need. But don't start with that; start with what you can do in general. Find out where you are on the analytics range by looking at your present skills. Then start looking for the gaps and come up with a plan for filling them.
4. Use what you've learned
One of the hardest things for marketing workers to do these days is figure out how to use data. That's the way it is. Much. Data! This is why Step 1 is so important: if you know that what you're doing now isn't helping you reach your goals, you know it's time to test and improve.
When marketing analytics are used as a whole, they help make marketing efforts more successful and improve the entire customer experience. When marketing analytics are used, they can lead to better planning for supply and demand, price optimization, and strong lead handling and management. All of these things can help a business make more money.
To read more about Digital Analytics and the process of tracking, read our the blog article, The Value of Digital Analytics