The Marketing Analytics Game:
Many firms have hopped on the web analytics bandwagon, but sometimes, marketing firms need very specific data in order to see the true power and effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. Web analytics, while useful, aren’t as helpful as they should be when looking at marketing information.
There is a significant difference between marketing analytics and web analytics. The bottom line is web analytics look at what matters to a webmaster, such as page load times, page views per visit, and so forth. Marketing analytics, like those provided by PageLadder Inc., examines business-specific metrics, such as sales, leads and what events influence leads to become customers. Marketing analytics come from sources like email, websites, social media and anything that happens offline with your business. Marketing is also people-centric, where web analytics focuses on the page view.
Marketers, in general, have a hard time measuring the success of their marketing, but given the amount of sheer data they need to assimilate in order to gain full insight into how successful their marketing campaigns are, it’s not a huge surprise that marketers may simply work with web analytics tools. They get email marketing data from their email service provider, social media performance information from their social media marketing tool, and blog analytics from whatever platform they use for blogging. There are other data that marketers need, too, so it’s no real surprise marketing analytics is sort of left out in the cold.
Why Marketing Analytics Matter
While web analytics is a useful tool, it just isn’t enough in terms of giving enough data to marketers. Marketing isn’t about just slapping a website up online and hoping for the best. You’ve got to look at the crossroads between where your marketing channels and your outcome of those channels meet in order to glean the most data.
What Marketing Analytics Offers:
Marketing analytics offer three distinct sorts of information:
1. Clear Information from Different Marketing Channels
Marketing analytics offer marketers a real insight into the relationships between your marketing channels. You are able to see, perhaps for the first time, the real power of all your marketing channels working together. Marketing analytics can tell you how effectively visits to your website actually translate into leads for your business, and then compare how email you send out actually ties in with other marketing initiatives you undertake.
2. People-Centric Data
Marketing analytics focuses on the person, so as a result, marketing analytics can help you see how your prospects and leads are working with your marketing initiatives over a period of time. For instance, you can learn how a lead first came to your website, and how that lead continues to interact with your marketing initiatives. This sort of intelligence is invaluable to you, allowing you to apply the information to marketing initiatives like lead nurturing.
3. Closed-Loop Data
The coolest thing about marketing analytics is that your marketing activities can be tied directly into sales. For instance, you’ll be able to see more directly how well the leads you’re nurturing are actually turning around and making your business money. The only real requirement is that you plug into a customer relationship platform like Salesforce.com or SugarCRM, for example. You can then look at the closed-loop data and decide whether the individual marketing initiatives you’re undertaking are actually working for your business, and narrow down the channels to what’s most necessary for driving sales. You may find that some of your channels aren’t working that effectively after all.
So I’ve used Marketing Analytics – Now What?
The idea behind using analytics is to optimize your marketing performance as a whole, so you can focus on those activities which are worth your time and make you money.
What you need to truly realize is that web analytics is only the tip of the iceberg. You’re missing out on a wealth of information which can help inform your business. You have to look for evidence of marketing analytics, and ask the right questions when you’re engaged in finding out what marketing analytics works best for you
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Logan
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