Data and Digital Marketing

The biggest tool to your success digitally is inevitably data. There is nothing you’d be able to achieve if you’re not collecting, summarizing, reviewing and strategizing backed by the data.

Online Marketing is a universe in itself. You’ll be lost in it, and end up not achieving your goal (be it brand advocacy, lead generation, showing your work, coming in the top of your industry, or spreading awareness) if you miss on this aspect.

Since most of you would have either used marketing or would have at least planned it at some point of time or the other, I’ll tell you exactly how you go about it and where you are mistaken.

1. You come out with a motive and a plan to uncover the digital world.

2. Hire a person/ agency to work powerfully.

3. Patiently wait for a period of 2–3 months, as results don’t show from the first day. (And yes, that’s true. It takes time)

4. By the end of this waiting period, you fail to understand what’s going on? How will you be able to get the result?

5. And then, you simply run pillar to post to find someone better who can work for you, and show you some results.

Oh!! Such a commonality.

My verdict is simple — Do you look at what the data says about all the experimenting and strategies you applied? Do you have a clear idea of what tiny bits worked, and what didn’t work at all?

Digital Marketing is a science. Usually, people understand it as an art of creativity and designing. And that’s where they’re wrong.

3 Things which you need to do for your success in digital marketing is:

Analyse data

Content

Keeping a track of what worked and what didn’t (so you can channelise it better)

What you need to know first.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) and machine learning(ML): Artificial Intelligence is the game changer in the modern time. Today, AI knows where your customer is, what he likes, what kind of preferences he has, what is his behavior, how he has to be sold and whatnot. Though expensive, these technologies have shifted the way marketing worked.

Direct Response Advertising: We are lucky to be born in the era of Direct Response. Today, the ideologies are such that we can target people of a particular behavior, segment, job profile and interest as per our requirement. Setting up the right methodology and getting an Hypothesis of reaching our target audience.

Social Media: The availability of social media in each hand helps us to actually target irrespective of nation, locality and cost barrier. This is by far the most cost reduction method that can be applied.

Now, when I say you need to use data, this is what you need to do:

1. Use pixel/ tracking source (a bitly link) or customised links to get the right data, on whatever you’re doing. I repeat, whatever. Because if you are spending even 1 min of your time online without having to get any data, it’ll be no good.

2. Irrespective of which platform you are using online, create a structure (a google sheet/excel, as it is the easiest), to fill up the data that helps you know if you’re moving in the right direction/not.

3. Your next strategies should be built after you drive your conclusions from the tracking you did. Your #1 mission to not to get a sale, for instance, it is to derive a method that can give you countless sales, everytime.

So, the next time when you're planning anything, make sure you back it up by data, or don’t do it at all.