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Digital Marketing Analytics: How to Analyze Your Digital Marketing
May 25 2016
Analytics is one of the most popular topics in digital marketing. We want to know what is working so we can optimize our spending. The problem is that most digital marketing reporting simply vomits numbers at people. There is no real analysis that is required to make better decisions.
It isn’t about the numbers it is about what they tell you.
Smart marketers don’t rely just on numbers but on analysis.
Here is an example of why:
You measure your Facebook advertising efficiency by looking at CPM – the cost you pay to reach 1,000 people with your ads. Seems reasonable enough – a cheaper cost to reach people is better, right? Well it depends. If you reach a more targeted audience you may pay more, but the views are theoretically worth more. A rising CPM may be a result of more effective targeting and may not be bad.
I talked to a Facebook advertising company recently after giving training to a brand team. The training talked a lot about targeting. The advertising agency said that they usually don’t target much because they are measured on CPM and while targeting makes more sense strategically, the brand holds them accountable to reduce CPM, so they don’t do detailed targeting.
Numbers without analysis leads to bad decision-making.
So how should you analyze your digital marketing?
For every number, chart or data point answer 3 simple questions.
What
What is the data telling you?
So What
What does it actually MEAN? Is it good or bad? What drove the change? What is behind it?
Now What
What should we do as a result of this information? What action is indicated?
Data without analysis isn’t helpful.
Dig deeper. Determine the cause and analyze what it actually means. This is how you start making better decisions.
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