The digital marketing measurement plan: finding meaningful insights
Here is the deal. Companies have access to the largest amount of consumer insight in history, but often fail to identify what is relevant and what this information means. This collection of information only becomes useful when you recognize what it represents and how it can be applied. As important as it is to see what people are doing, it means nothing unless we can grasp why they are doing it. By effectively understanding trends, both from a consumer and product perspective, companies can focus efforts on specific initiatives that will yield to the highest ROI.
The true meaning of data
The power of data lies not in the amount of numbers on an excel sheet, but in the analysis of those numbers. Data is just that… data. It does not become relevant until it is broken down, dissected, turned inside out, pivoted, and put back together into words with a meaning. Now, the most fundamental aspect of analyzing and understanding data is to be organized BEFORE a campaign begins.
Avinash Kaushik, the Digital Marketing Evangelist at Google, and pretty much the Vince McMahon of digital analytics, states, “The root cause of failure in most digital marketing campaigns is not the lack of creativity in the banner ad or TV spot or the sexiness of the website. It is not even (often) the people involved. It is quite simply the lack of structured thinking about what the real purpose of the campaign is and a lack of an objective set of measures with which to identify success or failure.”
Before running a digital campaign, sit down with all parties involved and create a digital marketing measurement plan – a tool used to identify the real purpose of a campaign and measure success or failure of that campaign.
The importance of relevance
When creating a digital marketing measurement plan, it is important to ask relevant questions. What is the business objective? What are the goals of the campaign? Is the goal to capture leads? What are the KPIs? Are the KPIs macro focused towards an ROI, or micro focused towards conversions such as coupon downloads, or are the KPIs both? Every campaign is unique and will have different objectives and different goals.
Furthermore, make sure to set targets for each KPI. For instance, a campaign finishes with an ROI of $10.00, is that good or is that bad? The fact is, by not identifying a goal/benchmark for the campaign KPIs, all that is left is a number, without an insight or an answer.
Real-time insights
Real time insights can be obtained with the use of digital tools. Does the creative drive traffic to the website? Do customers complete the call to action? If not, then drop it. Do not be afraid to adjust.
By implementing a digital marketing measurement plan, you are no longer stumbling to understand what worked, what could be improved, or how to better succeed next campaign.
You now understand success and failure. Analysis will be based off metrics and KPIs that matter. Most importantly, the data will shift from numbers, to insights, to those that drive change and improve performance.
