You’ve probably heard it a million times but numbers never lie. It is when we learn how to utilize them in our favor that they become our best friends. Especially when it comes to marketing strategies.
If marketers didn’t rely on data to track and monitor the trends in marketing, then they would certainly misjudge the market and ultimately, hit bottom. So, in order to make the numbers play in your favor, you have to know exactly what to look for.
Narrow the focus
The real headache begins when you get lost inside all the figures which just keep piling up. The truth is it will all make sense once you start zooming in on the right metrics. This includes monitoring your customers and the way you are winning or (heaven forbid!) losing them.
These customer personas should be clearly outlined with surprises brought to the minimum. It is only when you know who you are selling your services to that you can use those outlines to improve the relationship.
The next point to keep in mind is how you do that and whether the method was successful or not. The easiest to track are the strategies that you implement on social media or other online channels of communication. These are easily tracked through popular tools.
Mind the content
With an overwhelming amount of content circulating at any given moment, it’s hard to keep your head above the water.
However, content plays a pivotal role in content marketing strategy and as such, it should be closely monitored. Not only does quality content attract new customers but it also retains the old ones enhancing their loyalty along the way.
For this reason, you have to make use of the social media analytics which will give a detailed overview of the important parameters. For example, you may happen to think that you are reaching your target audience because you know who you want to reach. In reality, the results from your page visits prove you wrong. You are simply aiming at the wrong people without realizing your audience comprises people you never even thought would be interested in your brand.
This is when you should use the data to adjust or even change the strategy altogether.
Trust the CRM
Nurturing customer relationships is as important as the data you can derive from using the CRM software. You can easily track customer engagement or measure a campaign’s success with regard to the leads it generates and sales it closes.
Not only does CRM help you calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) but its metrics also assist you in allocating the budget and distributing resources.
The miraculous aspect of the data provided by the CRM is that it gives a clear picture of what your customers appreciate. As a result, you can use the data to create personalized media programs which are likely to improve response rates.
Is your strategy cost-effective?
This is probably one of the metrics that can make or break your business. If you see that numbers don’t add up, then it’s time to change the strategy. Measuring the success of your campaign is best done if you divide the subgroups of your traffic and monitor them separately.
For example, if you’re doing it the right way, your traffic should come from organic, referral, direct, and paid campaigns. You should learn to monitor important metrics within these subgroups.
In case there are signs some of them are underperforming, there is a chance you’re simply wasting your money. Draining your budget in vain is the worst thing you can do to your brand.
In the end, it’s obvious that data is a powerful weapon in the hands of online marketers.
Whether we like it or not, analytics are here to stay. Therefore, embracing this inevitable state of affairs is a must for any business trying to thrive in the modern-day society.
The bottom line is that getting the hang of the data is not an overnight process and it has a steep learning curve. The sooner you embark on that journey, the better results you will see.
