Online Marketing
Karen Coleman, VP of Integrated Marketing for Text100 Australia and New Zealand, explains that marketers and communications leads don’t need and can’t use all the data available to them. Here’s her guide to measuring what matters.
In online marketing, there’s no such thing as a free lunch – you have to earn it. Today’s brands need to earn the right to sell, promote and provide information to potential customers. So how can we use insights from multiple online marketing channels to earn stronger customer relationships?
Data is the key to better communications and ROI. Whether it’s big, mobile, performance, product or campaign data, it’s something online marketing can no longer ignore. This is especially true for those wanting to connect in personalised ways. But with the number of communication channels growing and customer behaviours constantly changing, many marketers still struggle. They find it difficult to connect with customers and ensure a consistent, seamless brand experience. For some, data in online marketing snowballs out of control.
The good news, however, is that with data, it’s not about knowing it all. It’s about measuring what matters. Marketers – whether agency or in-house – need to think less like brand advocates and more like business leaders. They should focus on the broader business problems they or their clients are facing. They need to be brave enough to challenge existing thinking and use data to back up their strategy. Is a Facebook like or an email open rate really going to sell that product or service?
Measuring What Matters
There are hundreds of different metrics that can give you a sense of what might be happening on your website, social media channels or e-commerce pages, but most are not truly indicative of what drives business results. Measuring website traffic, page views, subscribers and time spent on the site offers only superficial detail. To hone in on the metrics that really matter, brands need to think about the business problems they’re trying to solve. Then figure out which metrics reflect improvements in that area.
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It’s all about tracking and evaluating what drives action. What channels are bringing in buying customers? What elements are in play when customers make multiple purchases? The right data tells you what customers are actually doing. This helps marketers not only drive campaigns but also justify ROI. The strategy needs to reflect your business goals and map back to your unique needs.