Remember when numbers were more of a guideline for CMOs and their teams? An indicator of positive progress against goals or enablers of the right decision at a fork in the marketing road? But as a CMO today, if you’re not immersed in and committed to humanizing data and measuring metrics like CPA, CPL, ROI, as well as things like bounce rate, goal completions, lead-to-customer conversion rate, and multi-touch attributions, you’re not doing your job.
The trouble is, media programs have become so multi-layered and complex. Across tactics, channels, geographies, states, and zip codes, that data can feel more like an enemy than a friend for over-stretched teams. So as you consider strategies to make budgets work harder this year and beyond, take a moment to consider the first step: committing. That can help solve the problem and set you on the path to humanizing data that will prove performance against your goals.
Step 1 to Humanizing Data: Commit to Data and Make It Accessible for All
Recent surveys show 87% of marketers cite data as a critical driver of marketing success today, but as many as 38% in B2B marketing admit to not using data in their marketing campaigns at all. There are many reasons for this, but the main roadblocks to adoption include a lack of understanding of data analytics, especially at a leadership level. Without an in-depth grounding in (or understanding of) data analytics, many of the organizational leaders essential to approving marketing strategies and budget allocations aren’t able to understand, process, or act upon data outputs.
Committing yourself to make data-driven decisions with respect to your marketing goals is made easier when engineering data accessibility for all. That means two things: creating a laser focus on the most critical marketing success indicators like lead generation, conversion rate, cost of customer acquisition, and ROI; and visualizing data into easily understandable indicators that can be understood by anyone across the organization.
Narrow Down to Your Key Performance Indicators
Clean data narrowed down to your Key Performance Indicators is vital to commit to such an undertaking while finding consistent success. It’s nearly impossible to market effectively without a roadmap clearly defined by which metrics you’ll be tracking, and what makes those goals seen to be good or bad. It's always good to start by evaluating which metrics you'll ultimately be held to in terms of campaign and business performance. By thinking in reverse order, your data tracking will be better off showcasing those important data points prominently.
Visualizing Your Data Effectively
Virtually every company can lay claim to a large mess of data they've swept under the rug somewhere. Possessing a ton of data is not the hard part. You also have to clearly visualize it in a way that is easily understood by all parties involved. When visualizing your data, it is important to:
- Keep your audience in mind (executive teams loooove topline metrics and wrap-up views)
- Always shade towards keeping it simple (cluttered views can make it hard to glean what's important)
- Smart chart choice goes a long way
We're Here to Help!
As daunting of a task as that may seem, our team at RADaR Analytics is always ready to help. We'll create a custom analytics solution that will not only have an immediate impact in assisting you in humanizing data but will evolve as your business evolves. We’d love to talk data with you!
