How to better understand your marketing data to ensure success in 2018!

As 2017 draws to a close many business owners will be reviewing their results and reflecting what worked and didn’t in their sales and marketing efforts. As a result, it is also the time of year to create your 2018 sales and marketing strategies from the data gathered throughout the year.

What if you haven’t collected any data or don’t understand your data? We’ll touch on that below!

Data is vital to make educated business decisions. Data can tell you what your most effective sales and marketing channels are, who your demographic really is, how people are searching for your services, what marketing and messages people are more responsive to, whether your sales are impacted by seasonal cycles and so forth.

By making the effort to understand this data or finding someone who can analyse it all for you and put a plan in place which is aligned to your ultimate business objectives is vital to ensure business success.

Here are 6 reasons why you should love data!

1. Data can give you answers. Answers can lead you to success quickly. 
By analysing your data you will almost guarantee to find some very interesting insights. For example, you may believe that you know your target market incredibly well and even how they are searching for your services. But who is doing the online research? Is it your demographic or someone acting on their behalf, I.e co-ordinator, receptionists, partners at home rather than the decision makers? These are vital questions that data can help you find your answer to, as this will enable you to better target your messages to those looking for your services.

2. Discover which marketing channel is really working for you!  
Just because some numbers and data match up, doesn’t mean it’s connected. One activity may have happened on the same date as another, but dig deeper and find evidence that this result was truly from the action you believe. I.e. you see a sudden spike in web visitors on a particular day, this could be because of an eDM sent out, but if you have Google AdWords or social media campaigns running simultaneously… it’s best to check which of your online marketing activities is actually generating the most activity.

3. Knowing the industry stats can uncover market opportunities  
Every year new industry trend reports are published. It’s important to be aware of trends or threats impacting your industry, and whilst these reports can be quite broad… they can get your thinking to be proactive rather than reactive. For example if these reports are showing year on year end increases in overseas outsourcing for your industry’s services, you can factor this into your sales and marketing strategy. Look for the opportunities and put in place messages and tactics which show people the benefits to keeping things local, showcase the differences in quality etc. The reports may also show gaps in the market which may uncover new entry points for you.

4. Get ahead of your competitors 
Did you know there is a lot of data online about your competitors if you just look? Want to know where they get all of their online traffic from? What backlinks do they have? How are they ranking online compared to you? This information is all readily available and can assist to give you some interesting insights.

5. Increase performance
​Understanding your data, will allow you to increase your marketing campaign performance. By understanding your online metrics such as click through rates, conversion rates, bounce rates etc you can tweak your campaign analytics to achieve better results.

6. Make business decisions backed by facts not just instincts
Whilst any business owner will always have an element of making decisions based on gut instincts, you also can’t deny the facts that data can uncover. Sometimes when you’re attached to your business you can make assumptions and have a bias point of view.
So if you’re not seeing the growth you want, people are dropping off from your homepage or not filling out your contact form then perhaps it’s time to start digging into your data.

If you’re not sure where to begin or simply don’t have time to analyse your business’s marketing data, don’t hesitate to contact us at Optimum Marketing. We are data-driven in all of our marketing strategies.

Access your own dedicated marketing department at the cost of a part timer! We can assist with your marketing planning, branding, graphic design, copywriting, web development, SEO, PR & more! Call 1300 225 187 or visit www.optimummarketing.com.au