Why Learning Your Numbers is Essential

I always sucked at math. I have never considered myself a numbers person until the last few years when I realized that the survival of my newborn, StraightFire, depended on them. Now more than ever no one can successfully run a business and expect to thrive without analyzing numbers. We just came out of a meeting with a prospective client who has thrown thousands into their website, direct mail, Adwords, and more. After just over a year in business, they are desperately sinking fast. With over twenty years of marketing experience under my belt, I can say without a doubt that marketing analytics are essential to the success of any business or marketing strategy. Any marketer worth their salt will tell you that. And yet, so many businesses fail to understand the importance of this critical resource, let alone utilize it for their company’s growth.
 
#1) Efficiency
Marketing analytics enables digital marketers to gather key insights into consumer behavior. Essentially, it enables us to analyze your customer’s needs, wants, and market to them in a way that assures them your business has what they need. It is the closest thing to reading your customers’ minds and matching their needs with your product or service.
 
#2) Targeted Marketing
We’ve all experienced it. Right when we need a product or a service, we “stumble across” an ad that matches exactly what we were looking for. The product or service answers every single pain point so precisely that we’re begging the business to just take our money and solve the problem. This is an example of a business using marketing analytics properly. You want your customers to experience a rush when they “happen” across one of your ads. Marketing analytics allows marketers like myself to create this magical marketing moment over and over again, driving ready-to-buy customers to your business. Marketing analytics shows us who they are, so we can meet their need at it’s peak.
 
#3) More Bang for Your Buck
The old saying goes “a penny saved is a penny earned.” And, yes, I still pick them up off the ground. This couldn’t be more true with online marketing. Every marketing penny is essential to driving business to your doorstep. So why do so many businesses waste hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on random marketing initiatives that never bear fruit? Because they are sold into believing that “everyone else is doing it” so it will work for me too.
 
There is a more logical way.
 
Marketing analytics ensure that marketers optimize the return on investment (ROI). This means that every time StraightFire utilize’s marketing analytic metrics for our clients, we are able to quickly determine which marketing attempts are wasting money and which ones should receive more funding. It enables us to streamline the process so that more of our clients’ target audience is reached and in turn, they are receiving a higher return for minimal investment dollars.
 
#4) Improved Product Development
The mark of an excellent business is constant improvement. As a business owner myself, I can attest to constantly tweaking and perfecting my agency and learning, learning, learning, to better serve the needs of our clients. The beauty of marketing analytics is that it allows business owners to understand their market in-depth, and without guessing. Numbers don’t lie. As a result, businesses can go back to their products and services and improve what they’re offering on every level. The needs of your customers are constantly changing and the competition consistently ups the ante. By using marketing analytics on a consistent basis, you are better equipped to meet your customer needs, exceed expectations, and blow your competition out of the water.
 
Is it possible to achieve success without marketing analytics? Maybe. But who has the time to find out? Besides, you’re not looking for the possible – you want the definite. And marketing analytics is the definite path to marketing success.
 
As always, StraightFire offers free, no pressure, consultation.