Using Data to Make Marketing Decisions

As a business owner, I can empathize with the fact that there are so many daily tasks that dominate your time, making it difficult to keep your head above water. It comes down to prioritizing the main projects, delegating the jobs you can, and working your tail off to manage the rest. Because technology is a huge part of today's business world, using data to make marketing decisions only makes sense. Why are business owners resistant? Because analyzing the data and using it properly takes time and energy.  Plus that, some owners pride themselves on their ability to use their instincts when making decisions, but data takes away that human element. With options such as Google Analytics to assist you, it is critical that you understand the data it offers when you are making decisions about your next marketing campaign. Companies such as Progressive Insurance have adopted the method of using data and are very successful in their advertising efforts. In the following article, you'll see some quotes from their data and business analytics leader at Progressive, Pawan Divakarla. This post from Think With Google discusses the importance of using data, especially for mobile marketing, with quotes from Sagnik Nandy, distinguished engineer at Google:

From Insight to Action: How Data-Driven Marketing Is Supporting Big Decisions – Think with Google

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Image from thinkwithgoogle.com[/caption]

Mobile is just another source of data that can be integrated to provide a more holistic view of the customer journey. More Google searches are taking place on smartphones than on desktops and laptops—globally. And across the millions of websites using Google Analytics, more than half of all web traffic is now coming from smartphones and tablets.

But many companies struggle with exactly how to manage and integrate mobile data. "People are still thinking of mobile as something different," Sagnik said. "But we're at the point where mobile is the status quo." [caption id="attachment_4039" align="alignnone" width="701"] Info via Google Analytics Data[/caption]

At Progressive, data insights helped improve customers' experience with its mobile app. "When we launched our mobile application, it was just quote-only," Pawan said. But the team recognized its mobile users wanted to do more than simply get information. "We said, 'It looks like, from the data, people are attempting to buy, and so we should put buy-related software up there,'" Pawan explained. "It was a really big 'aha' moment."

To lead successful data-driven initiatives like Progressive, analytics executives must overcome challenges in three areas: accumulation, analysis, and action. Put another way, analytics leaders need to be able to easily integrate more data sources, harness advanced technology for faster and more sophisticated analyses, and extract insights that lead to improved business performance. By using analytics solutions, including Google Analytics 360 Suite, to integrate data sources and machine learning to analyze the data trail that people constantly create, organizations like Progressive can gather more (and more valuable) insights and improve the customer experience—often without human intervention.

Read the original post here:  From Insight to Action: How Data-Driven Marketing Is Supporting Big Decisions – Think with Google

This video reiterates the significance of using data for business decisions, in this case for economic development. Mark Litten, CEO of Bay Future, talks about data-driven decision making and discusses incentives based upon economic impact analyses and how having real-time data is helping the local economy by bringing more companies into the area:

If you are still opposed to data driven decision making, then you aren't taking advantage of the technology this day and age affords. It will make your life easier if you take the time to set up a strategic objectives and decide what it will take to reach those goals. Forbes contributor Bernard Marr offers ten steps that will get you on your way to making wiser decisions, starting with strategy and ideology:

Data-Driven Decision Making: 10 Simple Steps For Any Business

I believe data should be at the heart of strategic decision making in businesses, whether they are huge multinationals or small family-run operations. Data can provide insights that help you answer your key business questions (such as 'How can I improve customer satisfaction?'). Data leads to insights; business owners and managers can turn those insights into decisions and actions that improve the business. This is the power of data.

In this post I look at the process for applying data to your decision making - broken down into a simple ten-step process. Don't be tempted to skip steps or jump ahead to juicier parts - the strategic steps are as important (if not more) than the data itself. [caption id="attachment_4040" align="alignright" width="300"] Image via forbes.com[/caption] 1. Start with strategy It's easy to get overwhelmed by the possibilities that a big data world provides, and it's easy to get lost in the noise and hype surrounding data. Starting with strategy helps you ignore the hype and cut to what is going to make a difference for your business. Instead of starting with what data you could or should access, start by working out what your business is looking to achieve. 2. Hone in on the business area You now need to identify which business areas are most important to achieving your overall strategy. If you could only work on improving one or two areas, which would you choose? For most businesses, the customer, finance and operations areas are key ones to look at.

Read the full article here:  Data-Driven Decision Making: 10 Simple Steps For Any Business

Using your own gut instinct to make decisions is fine and shouldn't be completely eliminated. Human emotion has to enter in with choices or we are all just like a bunch of robots. But, when it comes to decisions for key business elements such as customer satisfaction, an informed decision based on verifiable data might make or break your bottom line.

 

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