Carpe That Marketing Data

I have been in the realm of marketing analytics for a few years now. As an analytics consultant, it’s my job to assist marketing organizations in measuring their efforts. But, my ULTIMATE goal is to enable marketers to market themselves. I want to help them prove to their team and leadership that marketing is the best “internal product” and that they need continued investment, and hey, maybe even increased marketing spend.

I primarily focus on inbound marketing data and sales data. The common data sources or technologies I work with are Oracle Marketing Cloud (primarily Eloqua), Salesforce, Google Analytics, and social media. Whatever type of data you’re working with or metrics you’re trying to measure, you’ve only succeeded if you or your end-user understands the information and can tell the story.

The need for analysts in marketing is growing, and analytics needs to (and has been) growing right along with it. Just a few statistics to prove the point: 59% of marketers deal with poor data quality, 51% have integrated platforms, and only 38% of marketers have the skills needed to provide insightful marketing analytics to their teams (source). Marketing is a complex structure inside every company, making it even more involved when it comes to tracking and reporting on everyday efforts. The reality is that marketing teams require assistance in proving their efforts, which is why a special focus on marketing analytics is kind of BIG deal.

Read on and learn how to “Carpe Marketing Data” and become marketing’s greatest advocate. I see it all the time. Marketers have all this great data but minimal support to help make it useful. They get through quarter over quarter by providing high-level numbers to decision makers, but nothing insightful that reflects the great things they have actually accomplished for the company. We all know money is motivating, but marketing struggles to get this far because it is simply not their job (or hasn’t been historically) to be an analyst and figure out how to provide said insights.

That said, I have realized throughout my experiences working and communicating with marketing teams that (surprise!) not all marketing teams are created equal. From team roles to skills set to level of understanding when it comes to data, metrics and analytics – every organization is different. Therefore, I think the best way for me to approach the question of how to become marketing’s best advocate using data is to present several scenarios and potential solutions. I reached into a few of my personal client stories to hopefully encompass the spectrum of marketing analytics issues that teams face.

Preface: no matter where you are in your marketing or analytics journey, there is a next step or a solution.

Scenario 1

Your Analytics Objective: You need to provide your team with actual trust in your current marketing data.

The Issue: Your marketing team has an overwhelming amount of data. There is very little organization and control over the data itself; therefore, with the amount of data and lack of governance, the team suffers “analysis paralysis”. On top of that, there is very little trust in the actual metrics that they currently have access to.

Solutions:

• Review samples of marketing analytics best practices. They can be found on sites such as this: http://www.beckon.com/blog/gartner-shares-best-practices-for-marketing-dashboards-and-points-to-beckon-scorecards-for-inspiration/
• Focus on just a few key reports. This is extremely important when you are working through trusting your data. Pick a few key metrics that you can test and know are accurate to gain trust in the data and then your team.
• Audit your database’s health from a completeness and standardized perspective. Clean the data. Set priority on the data sets or specific data points that are required for your data analysis. Do what you can to automate reports. Why would you want to make things manual? Invest in tools that allow you to set it and forget it. Yes, there’s cost associated with this, but your time is also valuable.

Scenario 2

Your Analytics Objective: Your analyst resource needs to provide reports that marry two data sources. 


The Issue: The team currently has marketing automation and sales data available. There is too much time being spent compiling the data, which currently comes from IT once a month, and there is no current no way to join the data sources together for a holistic report. 


Solutions:

• Warehouse your data. This can seem like an overwhelming process, but try not to reinvent the wheel. Check with your internal resources to see if you already have an on-premise data warehouse. If not, there are multiple (inexpensive) solutions, such as our own Analytics Cloud at Relationship One.
• Invest in a BI tool. This solution entails a little more homework. Take some time to get to know the business intelligence tool space and track down what would work best for your team. Again, it doesn’t hurt to check your internal resources to see if a spare software license is floating around.

Scenario 3

Your Analytics Objective: Your team has been asked to integrate a new marketing analyst who needs to provide insightful and standard metrics to both the sales and marketing teams.

The Issue: Your team is unsure of how to get the project started and set the analyst up for success. 


Solutions:

• Use the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Silly). Most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated, so simplicity should be the key goal to your marketing analytics success.
• Start Small. This compliments the K.I.S.S. principal very well. Start with a small data set and a few metrics. It’s as simple as that!
• Get to know your data and integrations. The best step to take here is to get in contact with the person who implemented your databases and technologies. Let them walk you through the process and ask questions so you understand the architecture.
• Set baseline metrics. As I stated previously, start with a few metrics. These will be your baseline going forward, so be strategic and check out some best practices here: http://www.chiefmarketer.com/how-to-establish-goals-and-baseline-metrics-for-your-lead-generation-program/

Scenario 4

Your Analytics Objective: You have been asked to provide upper management and the C-suite proof of return on marketing spend (a.k.a MROI).

The Issue: The team has been providing the same metrics for years, and things are going well with their marketing efforts. Decision makers in the company are taking notice and now demanding that the team prove ROI so they can assess their budget for the following year. The team is uncertain as to how to provide metrics outside of their usual slew of reports.

Solutions:

• Determine how you will define ROI. This is a personal business decision. My best word of advice is to gather definitions from your team so you can all be on the same page with your marketing goals to enable ROI tracking.
• Estimate costs for your campaigns. This is pretty straightforward…right? I wish! Breaking down the cost of your campaigns can be a complicated, but it’s a necessary evil. Don’t worry so much about the nickel and dimes; look at the bigger picture of your team’s expenses.
• Revisit your defined ROI model. If you have been using the same model for years, re-visit your definition in order to progressively grow with the business needs.
• Rate your marketing efforts. An effective, high-level marketing checklist should touch on the major areas of your marketing strategies in a way that highlights where you excel and where you’re losing ground. Give each area on the checklist a rating and constantly re-evaluate, since we all know marketing cannot be stagnant.

Have I answered the million-dollar question: How can you carpe your marketing data?

The answer is: there are numerous resources (people, tools, approaches, etc.) to help assist your team with accessing and using marketing data to produce valuable insights around the impact marketing has on your organization. As I went over the possible scenarios and solutions, hopefully you were able to relate to one (or many) and grasp a next step or two for your team.

Marketing analytics may not be as straightforward as finance, human resources, and even sales metrics because of its constant evolution, but there are effective ways to market the modern marketer. I do it every day.

Now go carpe your marketing data!