Data Driven Decision Making!

The world is changing! “Collecting, extracting, formatting, and analyzing insights for enhanced data driven decision making in business was once an all-encompassing task, which naturally delayed the entire data decision making process.” However, nowadays business software and technology have developed to the point that it is possible to extrapolate useful information from a large dataset in a very short time.

This evolution of technology is one of the greatest things to have ever happened to Marketing and related professions. With the facilitation of quantifying all possible options and expected results of a Marketing plan (with enough collected data;) one can come up with an answer that is logical, practical and reliable. This changes processes by allowing for the removal of uncertainty and intuition-based decisions. Essentially, this drastically reduces the risks associated with making a decision!

“The importance of data in decision lies in consistency and continual growth. It enables companies to create new business opportunities, generate more revenue, predict future trends, optimize current operational efforts, and produce actionable insights.”

Nowadays, multiple tools have been created that collect an exceptional amount of data. In most cases these tools can break the data down and run reports using custom metrics to produce information that is relative to the task at hand. One of the most incredible set of tools comes from Google. The G-Suite includes two powerhouses known as Google Ads (formerly AdWords) & Google Analytics.  The data in the case of G-Suites is easily collected by placing specific and trackable codes into the source code of website and its subsequent webpages. Once this is set up, the data that is mined and cleaned can be produced in a coherent formula for decision-makers that would normally not be able to compute such intricate and time-consuming tasks.

How can this help me make a data-driven decision?

I have a perfect example!

Here are 4 critical metrics one can look at to find the viability of a search campaign Ad Copy:

1.     CTR: The Click-Through Rate is one of the most significant Ad Copy metrics available. Many argue that the Ad’s primary focus is to drive users to the website. Whether or not the website can deliver becomes secondary if this becomes your primary source of focus!

2.     Conv. Rate: Conversion Rate is the rate at which a person who has clicked your advertisement has ended up completing a purchase on your website. Conv. Rate is a great metric to find out how effective your Ad Copy was at getting the user to a good landing page for their position in the sales funnel.

3.     CPA: Cost Per Acquisition is a metric that considers how much you had to spend per user that ended up purchasing. With this metric, the number of clicks, the cost per click, the average order value and number of orders comes into play. This is a great metric to live by if you know how much you can afford to pay per purchase made. Google is great at hitting this number!

4.     PPI: Profit Per Impression. This is a “hidden metric” in that you must create a custom column for it to show. This metric is a book-end style metric that considers the key figures in the data collected. Price Per Click, Click-Through-Rate, All Conversion Values and Cost are all calculated to generate the highest ROI per impression.

Have you found a metric that you consider irreplaceable or life-changing? Leave it in the comments below!

References

Durcevic, S. (2019, April 16). Why Data Driven Decision Making is Your Path To Business Success. Retrieved from https://www.datapine.com/blog/data-driven-decision-making-in-businesses/

Garofalo, J. (2017, February 17). What Drives Executives to Adopt Data Driven Decision Making? Retrieved from https://www.idg.com/blog/what-drives-executives-to-adopt-data-driven-decision-making/

Rouse, M. (2016, April). What is data-driven decision management (DDDM)? - Definition from WhatIs.com. Retrieved from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/data-driven-decision-management-DDDM

T. (n.d.). What is Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM)? - Definition from Techopedia. Retrieved from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/32877/data-driven-decision-making-dddm

Title: Digital Marketing, Do You Get It? Top 4 Hacks I've learned

In this day and age of Online Sales and Digital Marketing, do you know what to look for when optimizing your strategy for advertising online? That's the question that I'm going to answer today. With a lot more questions!

The biggest purpose of Digital Analytics and Marketing is to always keep asking, how can I be more efficient? The key to that question is going to be finding out what separate parts of your strategy can become more efficient. Are you spending money in the wrong places? Are you stagnant and lacking growth? Are you forgetting about possible tools at your disposal? Where do I start with so much to do?

The best thing about all of these questions is that it doesn't matter where you start as long as you don't stop.

These are my Top 4 Hacks that I've learned in my time working in Digital Marketing and Analytics:

1. Keyword Mining and Negatives! This is the most brain-dead and simplistic technique that you're going to love. Go into your Google Ads or even Bing Ads campaigns and look for Keywords to either add or negative out. What does this do? It gives you a better scope of traffic on the plus side, and it saves you money on clicks from people who are looking for irrelevant products. A great personal example I have is an automotive company that I work for with a bed cover brand called Gator. A lot of people search for UF Gators Bed Covers (As in linens) and we were able to save ourselves a lot of money by negatively blocking anyone that searches for +UF, +University, +Florida as Broad Match Modifiers in our campaigns!

2. A / B Testing. Is your ad awesome? Great! Try doing some A/B Testing with some Dynamic Google Search Ads that can give you an idea of what works and what doesn't! This would take way too long to explain, so here's an incredible YouTube Video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2obKm3V6fc

3. Are you doing a Search Campaign with a Display Opt-In? Don't. Super Simple, don't do it, it's lazy, ineffective and looks terrible. The Display Opt-In is essentially throwing a normal search Text-Ad into the Display locations where a Display Ad could be. Do yourself a favor, take a few minutes and make a Display Ad specific to Display, or just avoid it all together!

4. Optimizing Quality Score. Want to save money? Want to increase your position? Want to force competitors to have to bid higher to take your top spot? Well this is your golden ticket! Google tests your website and gives it a quality score on a number of factors.

What are these factors?

Expected Click Through Rate: Are people actually Clicking on your Ads?
Ad Relevance: Does your Ad match the KeyWords and Search Terms people are looking for?
Landing Page Experience: Do the Ad and Landing Page add up? Is the Ad relevant?

If you want to take a closer look, check out https://ads.google.com and get your Academy Certifications!

Data Analytics & You!

The question is posed then, what makes Data-Driven Decision Making so critical? “The importance of data in decision lies in consistency and continual growth. It enables companies to create new business opportunities, generate more revenue, predict future trends, optimize current operational efforts, and produce actionable insights.” (Durcevic, 2019)

Why Do Online Businesses Need Better Data Analytics?

Free Money! That’s the simple answer. There is more money to be made that online businesses give up daily.

How can we fix that? Great question! The answer is twofold. We begin by collecting as much comprehensive data as we can. Then, we take that data and compute for the adjustments that would align best with the preferred KPI’s. “However, to extract genuine value from your data, it must be accurate as well as relevant to your aims. Collecting, extracting, formatting, and analyzing insights for enhanced data driven decision making in business was once an all-encompassing task, which naturally delayed the entire data decision making process.” (Durcevic, 2019)

Is there some magical formula only the experts know about to gather all this data? No, not at all.

As this incredible article points out, Data Analytics is both your best friend for unapologetically honest answers, and your expert detective for finding the answers to your unresolved questions.

Through the implementation of data tracking, you can see what to spend your money on. Are you getting the proper Return on Investment? Are you directing your audience to the proper landing pages? What could you improve? How can you try new things while keeping your best performing Ads alive? All of that is answered and more.

Data Analytics is a modern-day computational marvel. Due to the vast amount of personal data that consumers provide freely for sources like Google, Bing, or Yahoo; specific targeting for more valuable audiences is available. With call tracking software, integrated chats, and e-mail marketing, one can know what parts of each is most effective for their own business.

What should you keep in mind when analyzing the data you’ve collected? Although data is exceptionally honest and unbiased, you must make sure to watch out for the insertion of your own bias. It might make you look great short-term, but you’ll be upset later! This specifically comes into play when trimming the fat off the data to ensure that you’re focusing on what really matters.  An example of expertly gathered and applied Data Analysis is Google’s automation. Google is your best friend and automation is a gift from above for your business.

To begin, “let the stats tell your data's story. While this sounds easier said than done (and it is), it will save you a lot of work trying to "rationalize" a finding later or trying to make a result "fit" with your preconceived notion of the result.” (Taylor, 2010) When you have your conclusion on what to do, the world is your oyster. Is your data telling you that certain keywords are worth more for your business? Are you using the correct conversion attribution across your platforms?

References:

Durcevic, S. (2019, April 16). Data Driven Decision Making – See 10 Tips For Your Business Success. Retrieved from https://www.datapine.com/blog/data-driven-decision-making-in-businesses/

Taylor, J. J. (2010, July 27). Top Ten Tips for Data Analysis to Make Your Research Life Easier! Retrieved from http://www.statsmakemecry.com/smmctheblog/top-ten-tips-for-data-analysis-to-make-your-research-life-ea.html

4188.01. (2019). Retrieved from https://powerbicdn.azureedge.net/mediahandler/blog/legacymedia/4188.01.png