As we’re kicking off a new year, it’s a good opportunity to review your organization’s marketing goals and optimization strategies. If you’re still struggling with knowing how to prioritize the transition to becoming a data-driven marketer, here are six basic steps you should aim to accomplish this year:
- Review your business goals – do you have tracking tools in place to match marketing tactics to goals?
- Consider web form submission, phone calls or online chat as possible conversion points. Each marketing tactic should lead to a measurable call-to-action tied to it so you can understand if it’s working or not.
- Goal: Ensure your 2020 reports include conversion rates for all marketing tactics.
- Consider web form submission, phone calls or online chat as possible conversion points. Each marketing tactic should lead to a measurable call-to-action tied to it so you can understand if it’s working or not.
- If you’re already tracking all of your marketing tactics, consider how you can take measurement to the next level.
- Perhaps adding call-tracking to understand the source of phone calls, adding third-party tags from Facebook or advanced tagging using Google Analytics or Tag Manager to understand a user’s journey on your website.
- Goal: Make your conversion data more accurate and in-depth to understand a visitor’s journey.
- Perhaps adding call-tracking to understand the source of phone calls, adding third-party tags from Facebook or advanced tagging using Google Analytics or Tag Manager to understand a user’s journey on your website.
- Review how you’re preparing and presenting your marketing reports.
- Who is your audience? What do they really care about? Remove lower-level data (click-through or bounce rates) and focus on the metrics that matter. Print your reports and look at them through your manager’s eyes – do they make sense? Is it easy to understand the key messages you’re trying to communicate?
- Goal: Ensure your management meetings are focused on continuously improving results and driving revenue.
- Who is your audience? What do they really care about? Remove lower-level data (click-through or bounce rates) and focus on the metrics that matter. Print your reports and look at them through your manager’s eyes – do they make sense? Is it easy to understand the key messages you’re trying to communicate?
- Evaluate which reports you can automate.
- Automating the generation of standardized, repeatable reports (think monthly performance reports) will allow you to spend your time focusing on analyzing the data and thinking about optimization tactics. Spend a morning reviewing all of your reports and automate the creation and delivery of those where possible.
- Goal: Shave valuable time from your to-do list so you can spend it where it matters.
- Automating the generation of standardized, repeatable reports (think monthly performance reports) will allow you to spend your time focusing on analyzing the data and thinking about optimization tactics. Spend a morning reviewing all of your reports and automate the creation and delivery of those where possible.
- Delegate resources/time for Conversion Rate Optimization.
- If you’re actively running paid media campaigns, you need to be testing ad copy, calls-to-action, and imagery regularly to continue to improve your campaigns. Now that you’re confident all of your tactics are being tracked accurately, create a regular testing cadence with dedicated resources to ensure you’re running enough campaigns each month to move the needle.
- Goal: Improve your campaigns’ conversion rates and drive higher ROI.
- If you’re actively running paid media campaigns, you need to be testing ad copy, calls-to-action, and imagery regularly to continue to improve your campaigns. Now that you’re confident all of your tactics are being tracked accurately, create a regular testing cadence with dedicated resources to ensure you’re running enough campaigns each month to move the needle.
- Find time for ongoing training to deepen your analytics confidence.
- Marketing analytics is a very technical area and to be proficient, ongoing training is necessary. Google Analytics certification is a great place to start (and it’s free!).
- Goal: Continue to build your technical knowledge and confidence in analytics throughout 2020.
- Marketing analytics is a very technical area and to be proficient, ongoing training is necessary. Google Analytics certification is a great place to start (and it’s free!).
Here’s to a productive and measurable 2020!
