3 Basic Benefits Of Marketing Analytics
If you are a regular visitor to B2BrandWater.com, then you are no stranger to the importance of digital marketing built on a timely and relevant portfolio of reader-engaging content. And while content creation and the promotion of it through digital channels are the most important steps in the process (because everything triggers off them), there is a third component to a successful strategy. That third “leg of the stool” I’m alluding to is analytics.
Most of us have heard the story of the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. For those who maybe aren’t familiar with the story, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who show him the importance of being a good person by showing him his past, present and future through a different lens. That lens was abstract and outside of his own personal point of view, which is important to note.
Marketing analytics is very much like the story told in A Christmas Carol. We, as marketers, all have preconceived notions as to how important our brand is and how much mindshare we have with our target audience. Many times, we are over confident in evaluating our brand’s popularity and make marketing decisions based on what we THINK versus what objective data tells us. Analytics can help us much in the same way the ghosts help Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.
- Learning and Understanding our Past (both good and bad)
Through analytics we can gain insight into what happened with past campaigns but also, why it happened. Not only is this important so marketing teams can avoid making the same mistakes but also show us where we are connecting with our customers to replicate success.
- Read the Room
This is an exciting process.If you can analyze in real-time, your tactical plan becomes a game of quick pivots and immediate data analysis.Is your content too “late buyer’s journey”?Are you lacking too many specifics in your “middle buyer’s journey” content?If you can see the trend lines as they happen, you can move to correct quickly.At the very least it will help you with the third benefit and give you a head start.
- Predict the Future
Predictive analysis is the backbone of a solid content marketing plan.As you see certain targets moving through the buyer’s journey (and thus through your sales funnel) you can accurately predict where they will go next.For example, if you have a target or a customer engaging in multiple early buyer’s journey content pieces and then engages with a case study (a middle buyer’s journey asset), you should be able to predict the most appropriate next steps and engage accordingly.
The Buyer’s Journey runs through content.In order to maximize your brand’s investment in content and make it impactful, you need direction.What better road map than one created from data collected, analyzed and translated directly from your customer’s information-sourcing behavior?Remember, the voice of the customer is no longer heard… it’s seen.
Image credit: "Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Morning," Jim, the Photographer © 2013, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/lcenses/by-nc/2.0/