Whether you would like to admit it or not, the most powerful throwback Nintendo character was Donkey Kong. He knew how to crush his opponents, jump over obstacles and demonstrate his mega strength. A common obstacle for most marketers is defeating data-driven marketing practices. So how can we gain the ability to become a data-driven Donkey Kong?
With the term “data-driven marketing” being used more than ever organizations are trying to catch up in the implementation of these practices. According to Forbes, “half of executives admit their efforts are lagging with the majority of data remaining uncaptured.” In order to receive the highest return on marketing investment, you have to use the right data practices, but how do we gain the strength and autonomy to do so?
Utilize these five steps and you’ll be on your way to conquering data-driven practices by drawing quantitative conclusions from your company’s marketing activity.
Level 1: Become Certified. Start from the beginning and brush up your skills through different skill-building opportunities. Google offers a FREE Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) that walks you through everything you should know about Google Analytics from basics to expert functionality. The Google Analytics Academy offers courses to help you prepare with about six hours of videos and quick quizzes. Since most businesses use Google Analytics tied to their social media and website, this is a great skill to learn how to quantify engagement with your marketing platforms.
Level 2: Utilize Free Resources. Use local public libraries and university websites to utilize databases for research purposes. It may sound old school but there is still a benefit to owning a library card these days. Personally, I use databases through iLibrary, a resource offered by the Indianapolis Public Library, found on their homepage. There are sixteen databases for access just in relation to business!
Level 3: Invest in Your Team. Require training development meetings to ensure your team gains confidence in utilizing quantitative data to make decisions. Make a fun meeting out of it and bring someone who can walk your team through a variety of techniques to use.
Level 4: Create a Systematic Process. It’s important to create a process to ensure utilization by integrating these practices into employees’ job design. The process will be dependent on the company, but some ideas include releasing marketing analytics reports during a monthly marketing meeting and building historical data over time to create comparisons.
If you implement some of these tips, you will be surprised by how easy it is to make data and research a part of your everyday decision making. Like Donkey Kong, you may not reach your goals overnight, but setting up the education, resources and procedures will allow you and your team to conquer decisions the right way with a focused scope on accessible data.
What tips can you share to impact businesses attempting to improve their data-driven marketing?
