Data is more than a measurement tool
A 2017 Report showed that most marketers don’t use data on the front-end of a marketing campaign to test or drive strategy. Forty-seven percent use data after a marketing campaign to measure results. This pretty much matches what I hear from clients as well, marketing teams just aren’t sure how to use data for strategy development or testing.
What does it look like to change your strategy over to a data-driven one? After all, data is more than just a measurement tool. Here are three tips for getting started.
Know your KPIs. KPIs (key performance indicators) are the benchmarks you want to hit. Work with your organization’s leadership to determine which KPIs are of value, which lead to revenue goals and which will take your marketing to the next level. Then you can more easily decide where to put your marketing dollars.
Review your data. What data is currently available and what would be helpful to use for strategizing marketing campaigns? Whoa – I know, this can be a big task. You may not know the answers right away, but if anything, figure out what data you have and figure out what data you need to achieve your KPIs. Look at all of the data available and, early on, don’t discount certain data elements because you think you’ll never use them. If you’ve never created a data-driven marketing strategy and if you’re just not quite sure where to start, team up with a successful data marketing partner, like B2E. We love to help clients see the data opportunity.
Jump! Once you find some intriguing data and put together a campaign strategy, just jump right into it. Test always. Once your campaign is complete, analyze the results and reflect on what you learned and how you can change it up next time. You have to start somewhere.
My best piece of advice for a marketing team making the data dive is to make sure once you get going, that you don’t stop learning and you don’t stop trying new things. Look at the data, then look at it again. Hypothesize and strategize. And if you get stuck? B2E is here to help.
