How Can Marketing Analytics Lead to A "High Performing" Business
How
Can Marketing Analytics Lead to A "High Performing" Business
There
was a time when business owners found it difficult to precisely correlate which
of their investments led to actual sales and profit. They would spend most of
their time concocting elaborate marketing plans with little to no assurance of
success. They were left to rely on guesswork, or even just their gut feel, to
decide on investment decisions. It didn't really matter whether their marketing
efforts were creative or run-of-the-mill, because at the end of the day, these
business owners and marketers were still left to wonder if what they came up,
even actually worked.
They
knew that the bottom line of any of their marketing efforts was to increase
awareness of their brand, or to lead to a sale or a new customer. But they also
knew that traditional marketing projects were usually untrackable; the connection
between them and their business' performance was ambiguous and inconclusive.
We've
come a long way since those times. There are now numerous tools that we can use
to bridge that connection. Now, with the plethora of consumer data within easy
reach, and with the modern techniques of marketing analytics, marketing has
evolved into a more precise science.
We’ve
previously discussed the benefits of marketing analytics software. Catch up here.
Marketing
Analytics: The Game-Changer
“Insight-driven
businesses are growing at an average of 30% each year; by 2021, they are
predicted to take $1.8 trillion annually from their less-informed industry
competitors.”
Data-driven,
insight-drive businesses consistently
outperform their peers. Consumer data is at the
heart of it all. The amount of data that you can collect from your target
customers is vital in realizing which investments can be maximized for your
business’ profits in the future.
A
data-driven business uses marketing analytics and adopts this 3-step process:
1.
They use marketing analytics to determine important business opportunities.
2.
Translate insights into effective services and products that appeal to their
consumers.
3.
Create offerings around their products and services and launching them to their
target customers.
We
also emphasized the need for businesses to track their marketing campaigns,
which you can read here.
How
can your business gain value from all the data that you've been able to gather
and analyse? Focus your efforts on managing your pricing and revenue schemes as
these provide the most impact on your business.
In
order for you to do this, there are aspects of your business that you will need
to adjust so that it aligns with your plans to integrate marketing analytics:
1.
Mindset.
Business
owners, including their staff, may not be confident or are even unsure on how
to proceed with any extra steps or changes that their analytics says "they
should do". Should you change your processes to accommodate new practices
and techniques? Do you take analytics tool training and consider it a priority
over other skills that you and your staff need to learn?
Even
if data gathering and the processes that lead to it, have become more
simplified because of easier software capabilities, it still requires that you
and your staff understand the fundamentals of the technology that you're using.
The biggest challenge may seem to be the technical know-how in operating your
analytics software, as well as in interpreting the data. But the truly larger
issue is your mind-set. It will be difficult for a business that takes a lot of
precautions, to relegate its entrenched practices and processes to changes.
Your business needs to commit to your plans. A lot of businesses hesitate and then
fail in implementing new technology due to a lack of preparedness.
2.
Training.
Training
courses will almost certainly be included by your marketing analytics software
provider for you and your staff. Your employees should have access to these
training modules and should have their schedules arranged to avoid shift
conflicts especially since they’ll probably be working on the job.
Aside
from being able to use your software tools, you should also conduct training
sessions on the most critical aspects of pricing, as well as best practices in
inventory management. Training exercises should lean on having simulations that
contain real data and in creating decisions that affect your business' pricing.
This will train your staff to analyse the results and see the impact of their
decisions.
While
you may also have the option of getting specialized marketing analytics
experts, it may cost you more.
3.
Consider Automation.
If you
have a large, extensive inventory of products and services, it may prove to be
too time-consuming to analyze all of them. It will also prove to be more
expensive an undertaking, so you should consider the number of hours that will
be spent on each task.
What
do you need automation for? You can opt for automated systems or addons that
can do most of the work such as setting prices for groups of products, divided
accordingly by your data. You can have utilization forecasts that use the data
as basis: advance reservations, booking history, etc.
The
output for these automated processes should be flexible, easy-to-use, and
shareable (internally). Formats like Excel spreadsheets are the most common,
accepted output especially for reports.
And if
you’re ready to try out marketing analytics software, then sign-up for a free
trial for Maralytics, here.
4.
Focus on opportunities with the most potential.
Find
out what each of your target customers are willing to spend on. You can do this
by cross-selling, doing targeted promotions, and by customer segmentation.
Check your inventory and maximize on what you currently have that are
available. You'll need the experience, know-how, and most of all, the talent,
for you to be able to pinpoint opportunities routinely.
CONCLUSION
Marketing
analytics involves a lot of details to be considered, but the essential process
is applying an array of techniques in gathering your crucial insights. While
the data to make smarter decisions are readily available, alongside analytical
tools, an integrated approach is necessary to drive growth and
performance.
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