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Traditional marketing was once focused on art, rather than science. Was the design beautiful or the jungle catchy? It was analyzed more off of a hunch, rather than numbers and data. But with the advancement of technology, we now have ample amounts of data that provide us with feedback to determine what is working or what is not working in our marketing strategy.
In fact, we have so much data nowadays, marketers can become overwhelmed and often are not able to decipher how each metric is helping their overall business goals. So, with so many metrics at our fingertips, what are the most important numbers to focus on to determine if your efforts are successful.
To fully analyze the performance of marketing channels, organizations must define their key performance indicators (or KPI’s). KPI’s are specific, numerical metrics that marketers track to measure their progress towards their defined goals. By tracking the appropriate concentrated KPI’s, marketing teams can make adjustments to strategies and budgets to course-correct if goals are not met.
Success is not necessarily found directly in Google Analytics or any other single channel, but rather a complete analysis of all marketing channels and how they work together to produce results.
Full Integration
Consumers are exposed to businesses across a variety of platforms before engaging with a brand’s product or service. Perhaps it started with an advertisement on social media, before heading to their website to purchase a product or maybe it took a stream of emails and a search on Google, before deciding to commit to your brand. While seeing the performance of each individual channel is important, power lies in the ability to tie all of your marketing channels' efforts together to determine how they influence one another.
Closed Loop Reporting
In many organizations, there is still a substantial divide between sales and marketing. These teams must work hand-in-hand in order to accomplish business goals. While your website and other online channels may be generating leads, are those leads converting into customers? The idea of SMARKETING, a term coined by Hubspot, is a process that integrates sales and marketing to have a common integrated approach. By having data that is closed loop, teams can determine which marketing initiatives are contributing to your bottom line.
Personalized to Buyer’s Journey
Analytics can also give you the power to focus on your individual buyer's personas, rather than just a page view. Not every potential customer will engage with your brand in the same way, therefore, it is vital to measure how these marketing channels work together as the prospect moves throughout their buyer’s journey. By understanding how your audience becomes your customers, your team will have more power moving into future campaigns.
Yet, we still struggle. Marketing teams struggle to find the impact of their efforts and confidently present a return on investment from their marketing initiatives. Most likely, it is because of a combination of the two points below.
Without goals, you will never know how to determine something as successful. Set SMART goals for your team. By having clear expectations and deadlines, you will be able to adjust your strategy as necessary to achieve your goals.
Oftentimes marketers are using a variety of different reporting platforms to get a complete understanding of their efforts. From gathering data from Google Analytics to social media platforms, and then also tying it into your email marketing platform—it is easy for information to get lost in the shuffle. That’s why an all-in-one marketing and reporting platform allows you to gather information all in one place. Platforms, like Hubspot, provide full transparency across all of your marketing channels and how they interact with one another.
As Peter Drucker once said, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Analytics give marketers the power to create successful opportunities for their business, but only if they utilize it. Being able to show the value of what you’re doing gives the organization the confidence in your efforts. In addition, these analytics allow the marketing and sales teams to continue improving. Take the guessing out of the game, and strengthen your strategy.
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