As we discuss frequently at CRAFT, marketing should be looked at through a
strategic lens, not merely a tactical one. A central piece of the equation when it
come to strategic marketing? Your data.
By taking a data-driven approach to your marketing efforts, you can make
strategic adjustments that are based on objective reasoning, not just hunches or
feelings. But having data in hand is only the start. What do you do with it from there?
Today, we’ll outline the three steps to putting your data into motion: understanding it, adjusting to it, and monitoring it over time.
Step 1: Understand Your Data
Your marketing data is just numbers and figures until you take the time to
understand what it all truly means. By taking the time to familiarize yourself with
what you have in front of you, you can better understand your customers and
how they respond, and make adjustments moving forward.
For example, if your data shows that your audience is not responding well to
posts in the morning, or that most of your sales occur at night, it might be time to
consider catering to those times of day. If certain types of content have higher
rates of engagement, you might up the ante on those and decrease messaging
that doesn’t appear to be resonating.
The key, though, is to ensure that you don’t jump in too soon. It’s important to
give your marketing plan time to generate results and look at trends over time. If
you make premature decisions as a result of your data, you might miss out on
gaining an even broader perspective of the information, and place an
overemphasis on too few data points.
With that said, understanding your data is the basis for making strategic changes
over time. As you seek to understand your data over time, you can draw conclusions that will inform how you can best move forward. From there, you can adjust and hopefully improve your results.
Step 2: Adjust to Your Data
Once you’ve gathered enough data and gained a comprehensive understanding
of what the data is trying to tell you, it’s time to make adjustments accordingly.
Whether it is posting at different times of the day, utilizing different platforms and
marketing mechanisms, revamping your messaging, or otherwise, making
adjustments through a data-driven lens is critical to your company’s marketing
success.
But a strategic adjustment is not just something that you “set and leave” so to
speak – it is something that requires not only intention, but also attention. In other
words, you must keep your eye on your new direction and compare performance
before and after the adjustment.
Step 3: Monitor Your Data
As mentioned above, changing your marketing approach as a result of the data is
only the first step. From there, it’s critical to monitor the data and see how your
audience (and business as a whole) responds.
If you see upward trends initially, that’s a great sign, but continue to monitor your
data over the long haul. There are many factors that may influence your
continued success, including market fluctuations and external factors that extend
beyond consumer behavior on the micro-level.
Be sure to keep all of these elements in consideration as you interpret and
respond to the data over time.
Could a marketing expert help you utilize your data for success? Contact us today to discuss partnership opportunities!
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