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From IT to Product Management to HR, data has become an essential component of successful problem solving. At Movéo, we know that this is true for our clients, but as part of our Fourth Evolution, we decided it was time to take a step back and make sure that we were utilizing data in the most effective way possible in our own business operations. To do this, we recently held a “data bootcamp” in order to give our employees a new way of thinking about data and an understanding of what resources are available to them to help them solve business problems. Here are some key lessons we learned:
Understand causality and how it influences your marketing.
We began with a session on causality and experimental design. In this session, we learned the difference between correlation and causation/attribution, and learned strategies on how to critically think about attribution of relevant events. We went through an example of a simple but widely used experiment type—the A/B test. We then discussed other examples of marketing tests and how they can influence decision-making in marketing and improve efficacy of our campaigns.
Know how to interpret data visually.
Afterward, we held a session on the iterative design process and data visualization, where participants got to experience how to design data visualizations firsthand. Participants took part in key elements of the design cycle and experienced the differences between what is “interesting”, “pretty” and “useful”. We also touched on some general principles of data visualization design, including things like ink density and Occam’s Razor. Importantly, we were pushed to think of other data sets that might be relevant to a problem at hand, and realized data visualization is not about visualizing the data you have in front of you, but rather about helping someone solve a problem.
Think critically about the context surrounding information, and draw conclusions from the numbers.
Our next session focused on metrics and transparency. We discussed ways in which certain metrics (i.e. click-through-rates, online 5-star-based reviews, etc.) can be used as tools to drive decision-making. We discussed how to be as transparent as possible in creating metrics, providing context and using relevant data to draw sound conclusions. Team members came away with the confidence to draw their own conclusions about quantitative results, the ability to critically interpret the meaning behind various metrics, and the desire to create metrics that transparently describe the business situation at hand.
Model everything.
Finally, we reviewed models and algorithms, giving a high-level description of what a model is, providing examples of some relevant models, and going over how to read and interpret these models. We discussed the trade-off between model simplicity and accuracy, and described the benefits and limitations of thinking about real-world phenomena in terms of models.
This was a great opportunity for us to revisit data strategy and prepare ourselves for a 2015 completely guided by data-driven marketing. Let us know: what parts of your business could you use a bootcamp on?
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This post was written by Sheri Granholm, Vice President of Consulting & Engagement.
“We need to demonstrate how marketing is contributing to the value of this organization.”
Associate Vice President of Marketing, Leading Academic Medical Center Healthcare Provider
As a chief marketing officer, how often are you focused on this goal in your day-to-day activities? More importantly, how are you defining “value?” And does this “value” align with your senior leadership’s definition?
You are likely facing this challenge every day and the expectations and accountability keep rising. 80% of CEOs admit they DO NOT really trust and are not very impressed by the work done by marketers – while in comparison, 90% of the same CEO’s DO trust and value the opinion and work of CFOs and CIOs.* What’s more, 73% of CEOs think marketers are not the business growth generators they should be.*
In today’s era of accountability and “prove your results” world, senior leadership requires that you not only quantify your return on marketing investment but also demonstrate and, more importantly, link your efforts to next-generation, sustainable growth. This could include gains in sales revenues, more market share, more prospects and/or more conversions.
Business growth consultants are adept at leveraging and mining data to:
- Map and rank the products and services that are most profitable to the market using proprietary algorithms and scoring models
- Uncover untapped strategic opportunities that will give you an edge in seeking out new customer segments and competing in spaces and places you hadn’t considered
- Use scientific research and optimal methodologies to better understand target audience behaviors and how best to engage and connect with them
No matter what requirements, successful growth and demonstrating value requires an adoption of these key principles:
1) Properly demonstrate the “business effectiveness” of your marketing spend, campaigns and activities
A business growth consultant can work with you to develop a metrics strategy framework such as the example below that aligns with your organization’s goals and shows linkage to results.
Such a framework can help prove how your marketing efforts have generated incremental demand for the companies’ products/services—(i.e. ability to generate more sales, greater market share or new customers). One way to do so is by applying an engagement and marketing intention scoring system to aggregate online and offline marketing achievements.
2) Set key performance indicators that matter – beyond marketing’s door.
Setting key performance indicators that align to business objectives is critical. As marketers, it is no surprise that we live and breathe our brand’s equity—awareness, preference, reputation, and loyalty values are all carefully monitored, trended over time and showcased to top management. However, senior leadership may not always share the “brand as an organizing principle” viewpoint and have great difficulties seeing its value and/or its linkage back to results that matter to them.
Marketers may rely sometimes too heavily on this one metric in their “demonstration of results” equation. It is critical to set growth-related measures that matter beyond marketing’s door to quantifiably demonstrate value and help justify increased marketing budgets. Furthermore, demonstrating how much incremental business additional marketing investment will generate makes leadership’s decision-making process easier.
3) Optimize the Reporting Format
Once your metrics strategy framework is established and the data collection and analysis process is complete, developing a cogent, powerful yet simplified reporting dashboard is essential.
Presenting data is a form of artistry. Data overabundance and the use of “spreadsheet sprawl” is often the fallback and should be avoided. First and foremost it must tell a story. The data should help explain to senior leadership two fundamental things:
- Why are we doing what we are doing?
- How are we optimizing our strategies?
A business growth consultant can work with you to analyze the data and glean key insights that will aid in refining marketing strategies. They can also help visualize the story and present the facts so you do not need to have a PhD in statistical science to understand the data.
The era of accountability is here to stay. You can’t expect your leadership to place value on something we as marketers are unable to quantify. It’s our role, and frankly our responsibility, to tell the story.
*Global Marketing Effectiveness Study 2011 & 2012
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You undoubtedly recognize the importance of data and insights, but how do you actually go about applying them to your campaigns? It can be daunting to begin to integrate data into your marketing process at first, especially for creatives and others who are often removed from the task of gathering and analyzing data. That’s why this post is focused on specific tips for using data and insights to inform your next design project, from brainstorming through to testing.
Brainstorming
Do you ever go into a brainstorming meeting only to find that your group’s ideas are unfocused and all over the place–or worse, nobody has any ideas at all? Data provides structure to brainstorming sessions. Begin by reviewing any research or data points related to your project. That can get your brainstorming group’s wheels turning. Then, come up with one overarching goal for your project and split it into smaller, measurable goals on which you can track your progress. Once you have these in place, figure out what metrics you’ll need to keey an eye on, decide how to track them and determine what tools you’ll need. Finally, start thinking about daily and weekly operations you’ll need to supplement and support these overarching goals. By keeping data and tracking at the forefront of the brainstorming process, you can streamline and focus your discussions–and set your project up for success.
Implementation
Applying data and insights to a project you’ve already started can be difficult, but it’s better late than never. You may need to go back to the brainstorming stage and figure out what metrics apply to your work, and whether you have enough data on hand to make informed decisions. Once you have sufficient data, pay attention to the real-time insights it gives you and be prepared to change your approach in response. Did you fall short on one of your goals? Try something new–maybe take some of the budget from a part of your campaign that’s doing well and use it to drive focused results in the area that is lagging behind. In this stage of the project, it’s all about following insights and tweaking your operations accordingly.
Wrap-up
The end of a campaign is a natural time for heavy reflective data analysis. Data is imperative to proving the return on a campaign investment, and many marketers are already familiar with metrics reports and post-campaign wrap-ups. However, you can use data to create more than just a summary of your results. If you have carefully thought about the metrics used throughout the campaign, you will have plenty of rich data to determine which elements of your project were successful, which were not, and even how you can improve what you did. That data will be wildly helpful when building your next campaign, as you’ll be able to use it to strengthen your efforts and predict the success of your campaigns.
Let us know: how are you planning on applying data and insights to your next creative project?
Photo Credit: Jes via Flickr Creative Commons
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A great campaign entices people with creativity, quality content, and the chance to take part. Get inspired with these three top-notch examples:
IBM, Smarter Cities
In 2013, IBM made a splash with its “Smarter Cities” campaign. By turning benches, ramps and rain shelters into ads, IBM got people talking – and interacting with the ads. While online viewers far from London and Paris, where the billboards were installed, couldn’t sit on the benches, the campaigns videos showing these live interactions still had quite an impact online internationally.
Why did it work? The project was creative, making the ads that are so ubiquitous in cities across the world into fun parts of daily life. It was memorable, because people had a direct experience with the billboards. And the campaign had great content – a push for smarter cities where the imagery depicted in the ads would become a reality.
Central Desktop, The Breakup
Central Desktop’s pop art-inspired campaign took potential clients through the story of a cartoon couple, John and Jane. Influencers received personalized microsite links and follow-up direct mail and email pieces, all keeping with the John and Jane storyline. With an almost 30% increase in leads, the campaign was a success and John and Jane will be returning in future Central Desktop efforts.
Why did it work? The humorous and unusual structure of the campaign stood out and caught people’s interest. Beginning with the initial video, there were opportunities for the viewer to interact with the ad, in this case checking off the qualities they want in a partner.
Tourism Queensland, The Best Job in the World
“The Best Job in the World” campaign happened several years ago, but its levels of online and offline influence still impress. Advertising a “caretaker” position for Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia, the campaign generated over 34,000 video applications and hundreds of thousands of votes from site visitors. The winner got to tour Queensland for six months, creating social accounts to share his adventures. Demand to visit the Hamilton Island soared.
Why did it work? This campaign relied on interactive content, soliciting user videos and votes. It got them by the thousands because it gave people a chance to win something they really wanted. The campaign caught attention because of its unusual approach to generating tourism and its competitive aspect. It kept attention through compelling, user-generated content.
The best B2C and B2B campaigns must be memorable, combining top content, creativity and an interactive draw. How does your organization give people something to talk about?
Photo Credit: Timothy Krause via Flickr Creative Commons
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Group projects are never easy. Personalities collide, lines of communication get crossed, and somebody always seems to end up doing the majority of the work while others contribute little. At Movéo, we know that the best teams are made made up of different personalities with different skill sets, so we always plan group projects with our own strengths and weaknesses in mind. Some are great planners, some can motivate and lead others, while some of us are best crunching numbers and creating elaborate spreadsheets.
But what are the personalities you need on your team to ensure the success of your next marketing project? Read on as we discuss the five personalities that make up a great team.
The Dreamer
No matter how data-driven your plan is, you need someone who’s able to dream big and think creatively. The dreamer is the main creative, the person who first comes up with a marketing goal, overarching strategy and some clever tactics they’d like to try. While this person is great at thinking outside the box, implementation may not be their strong suit–which is why we have the next few team members.
The Scientist
If the dreamer has his or her head in the clouds, the scientist has both feet planted firmly on the ground–although these roles work closely together. The scientist is responsible for transforming the dreamer’s vision into reality by defining metrics, tracking data and reporting back on results. The scientist transforms very high-level strategy into tactics, action plans and KPIs, and is responsible for the hard data that comes with it.
The Soldier
The right-hand (wo)man of the scientist, the soldier is the one who implements plans. They’re the one responsible for creating content as the scientist and dreamer see fit–writing the blog post, designing the next great creative piece, building the lead-gen campaign, and whatever else is necessary to make progress toward the big goal. The soldier is on the front lines of every marketing effort, and is often the face of the campaign.
The Diplomat
Often working closely with the soldier, the diplomat has the ability to smoothly and effectively operate at different levels of the project. They are equally adept at helping with daily project management as they at adapting strategy to new data, and have the ability move between clients, vendors, partners and members of the team with ease. If there’s an issue to be communicated, the diplomat is the one to carry that information through the group and ensure alignment.
The Manager
Who keeps all these people on track? That’s the manager. Their job is to make sure everybody is doing what they’re supposed to, and that all operations are working smoothly toward the main goal. It’s the manager’s job to take creative content from the dreamer, analytics from the scientist, feedback from the soldier, and observations from the diplomat and translate it into both long-term and short-term strategy and daily work to keep the team operating smoothly.
Let us know: which personality are you? What kind could you use more of at your firm?
Photo Credit: Financial Times via Flickr Creative Commons
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When developing a strategic communications plan for a client, data is often as much about deciding what’s not useful as identifying what is useful. Intelligence derived from data can help companies find their most profitable customers, identify new business opportunities, deliver better targeted leads to the sales organization, offer real-time insights to make smarter campaign decisions and much more. But data can also have a paralyzing effect if you cannot separate the meaning from the noise.
An early step in the strategic planning process at Movéo involves developing a detailed list of information/data sources (those required to perform an effective situation analysis), as well as a plan for obtaining these inputs. However, it is critical that you know the problem you’re trying to solve, before you embark on the journey of data collection.
- We’ve seen that clients are often struggling with one (or more) of a few major challenges, for example:
- They’re losing customers, but they don’t know why.
- Their “pitch” is becoming less effective and they’re struggling to remain connected with their audience.
- Their campaigns are not generating the expected response.
- The content they’re developing is not creating an adequate level of engagement.
Depending on the problem the company is trying to solve, the types of data required to understand the conditions that will contribute to (or detract from) the company’s ability to realize its objectives can vary dramatically. It is important to design a system for obtaining the “right” data, not merely the data that’s most readily available.
The most appropriate data can take the form of “1s” and “0s” but it can also take the form of less structured data, such as survey responses and customer interviews. And, even if the data is easily tabulated, there’s a great amount of thought that needs to go into filtering the data for its relevance to the situation at-hand.
Data should be seen as an input, and it requires attention and cleansing, but the real heavy lifting is in the analysis of the data. How do all of the datasets (research, analytics, CRM, etc.) relate to each other, and how do they come together to tell a story? What are the real insights that can be gleaned from the data…what can we learn from the data that truly provides a competitive advantage?
Movéo believes that gathering facts and maintaining objectivity is key to strategy. We rely heavily on all forms of data (market research, behavioral, performance, etc.), to inform any strategic recommendation. We collaborate in the design of original research studies, when necessary, to help identify opportunities and inform objectives, and we also leverage data generated from our efforts/campaigns, to fine tune and optimize our recommendations. The plans we develop require data to set us on the correct course, but we also leverage data to act as a rudder ensuring we maintain this course over time.
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As we approach the end of the year, the development of a business-wide annual plan looms ever closer. Planning for next year is a major stress this time of year; however, at Movéo, we’ve decided not to worry about our annual marketing plan for 2015. In fact, we’re not even going to write one.
Why? Data-driven marketing has changed the operations of marketing departments–so much that it’s rendered the annual plan obsolete. This post will explain how data-driven marketing requires greater flexibility and quicker response times, negating a need for a yearlong marketing plan.
Annual marketing limits flexibility.
When relying on data-driven insights, you are constantly receiving information. This allows you to analyze, in almost real time, how successful your marketing efforts are. This makes it instantly clear what you’re doing right and what needs to change. Data can help to retarget a marketing campaign to make it more effective in reaching an annual goal, but it can also show that you may not be using the right tactics at all–and if in February it becomes clear that all the tactics outlined in your annual plan back in November are moot, what was the point of doing it in the first place?
Annual marketing limits innovation.
Imagine this scenario: your business is a leader in a niche industry. In November, you create an annual marketing plan that says you want to increase your presence in the industry, develop a couple of key partnerships, but nothing big–you’re comfortable where you are. In January, you receive news that one of your main competitors has developed a technology that will allow them to increase their hold in the market by, let’s say, 20%. What are you going to do? Stick to your annual marketing plan? By taking a data and insights-centered approach to your marketing, you can more easily and effectively adapt to the changes in the industry, and allow yourself the freedom to come up with creative solutions.
So what do we do instead?
While we’ve written about the lack of need for an annual marketing plan, going blindly into the next year is not the best idea. You should still develop a document that outlines your high-level strategy for the year, but it should be data-focused, allowing flexibility in tactical execution towards marketing objectives. Mark out quarterly meetings where you can reassess objectives, discuss wins and losses, and retarget your actions.
While it’s still important to have a strategy for 2015, implementing a data and analysis-driven approach to marketing negates the need to have a detailed, tactical marketing plan that will only limit your options for the next year. Instead, prepare yourself with strong objectives and data analytics, and you’ll have the means to a strong, data-driven 2015.
Photo Credit: David Wilson via Flickr Creative Commons
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Is your brand data-driven? If not, it’s time to make a change. As we’ve discussed this month, data-driven brands have the upper hand in marketing, as they’re better able to adapt and respond to changing variables in the marketplace. Read on to learn the six qualities of a data-driven brand that help them rise to the top:
Adaptable
Data-driven brands can adapt as needed, in real-time. Instead of waiting for a quarterly or end-of-year report to adjust marketing strategy, they collect data continuously and use it to guide day-to-day decisions about your brand’s direction.
Targeted
Data analysis allows companies to better understand their customers and target marketing more effectively. Reach your potential clients with a better understanding of where they go online and what they do when they get there. Use these insights to shape your marketing efforts and tailor them to each digital channel.
Relevant
Data-driven brands stay relevant by responding to the needs of their audience. Keep tabs on data to understand what’s hot in your field and track the conversations that leads and clients engage with online. Shape your marketing strategy based on what’s happening right now, not on an outdated projection.
Socially Savvy
Data-driven brands use insights to shape all facets of their digital marketing, including on social media. Analyze the performance of your organization’s posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social sites to understand what engages your targets. Then, shape your social sharing accordingly.
Strategically Cohesive
A data-driven brand unifies its voice and campaigns across platforms, in everything from banner ads to owned content on the main website. Create a truly integrated campaign and use data to perfect your brand’s approach on each platform.
Vision
These days, digital marketing seems simpler and more accessible than ever. But that means that a holistic strategy is also more important than ever. The brands that can create data-driven digital marketing strategies that are more than the sum of their parts will pull ahead of organizations that take a more haphazard approach.
Read our blog throughout the month to learn more about taking your brand to the next level in data-driven marketing.
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Today’s post is by Jiani Zhang, Movéo’s Analytics Director.
Marketers are increasingly aware of the power of data every day. With easier access to huge amounts of sources and accelerated development of analytical approaches, data enables them to enhance and prove the impact of marketing investment on business growth. They achieve the transformation of roles from cost centers to profit centers by making smart data-driven decisions from tactical to strategic levels through development and deployment of marketing solutions. That’s how data has come to the forefront of marketers’ minds in all kinds of B2C and B2B industries. Below are several key ways data can help a marketer achieve in daily work.
Measure marketing performance properly
We make marketing decisions for both immediate growth and future potential towards business goals. This is why traditional ROI analysis doesn’t meet all measurement needs. More than reporting direct monetary return on marketing investment, now marketers should also identify and quantify “indirect” impact on long-term business development, such as expansion of brand awareness, deepened engagement of prospects, higher share of brand voice, increase of qualified leads, higher conversions to sales-ready leads, etc.
A proper measurement plan is critical here. It starts from business goals and marketing strategies, provides key performance indicators (KPIs) that should be built and data that need to be tracked. Going with such a plan, you can easily grasp and manage various kinds of goal-relevant performance. This could be particularly important for B2B companies to keep a unified view in minds and set proper goals for the measurement plan. There may be a long way to fully turn B2B marketing effects into revenue, and before all your efforts are realized, you want to stay close with what’s going on.
Make optimizations with agility
Data tells not only how your campaigns performed, but also which elements are drivers or barriers of the success. Insights extracted from data and analysis can show directions towards better results through agile actions and changes, such as reallocating more budget to better performing vendor sources, or driving visitors to content which is proved to be more engaging.
The immediacy and timeliness of digital data also enables you to make changes and harvest improvement quickly, while campaigns are still in process. One Movéo client took data-driven recommendations and made a series of easy optimizations in their online magazine layout. They obtained a 42% higher interaction rate in the next quarter.
Reevaluate and enrich marketing strategies
When implementing a marketing strategy, marketers get new chances to cumulate data, broaden and deepen insights, and better understand their customers. Such learnings can help reevaluate and enrich any step of existing strategies, build more a customer-centric experience, provide more cost-efficient solutions and uncover emerging opportunities.
One Movéo client found from web behavioral data that new prospects in Asian markets are highly engaged and interested in some specific products when they are mainly promoted in U.S. market. This indicates a potential to refine and expand the current strategy.
B2B analytics needs to be closely aligned with sales processes to figure out better solutions in engaging, generating, identifying or nurturing sales-ready leads. Due to the complex and lengthy sales cycles here, it may be much more sophisticated around data collection, processing and analysis. At the first glance, the impact of extracted insights may also seem not as obvious and immediate as that for B2C counterparts. However, they still provide vital and valuable information that were previously invisible for sustainable business growth.
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In a changing marketing landscape, data analysis and insights give organizations the information necessary to measurably grow their business, spend their budgets wisely and compete effectively.
There are many ways in which careful and strategic data analysis can result in the growth and success of an organization, including:
Reallocating resources where they make the biggest impact.
Data analysis takes raw information, such as how many leads a campaign generated, and delves deeper. By revealing the marketing decisions that yield the greatest impact and ROI, data analysis allows your company to better put your resources to work.
Assess strategy in real time.
As we’ll explain more later this month, data-driven marketing has killed the yearly marketing plan. Successful digital marketing responds to what’s working, when it’s working. Track results and adjust your company’s approach as you go.
Stay in touch with the ever-changing marketing landscape.
Digital marketing is often mediated by search and social algorithms. These algorithms are periodically changed as major players like Google and Facebook decide they can improve the user experience with updates. Data-driven marketing adapts as algorithms change, instead of continuing outdated “best practices.”
Reach more of the right people.
To grow, an organization must not only reach many people, but reach people with purchasing power. Data-driven marketing helps your business target and retarget ever more effective campaigns, to make new connections and nurture existing business relationships. If your business wanted to open an office in a new city, you would need to do research on that market first. Think of digital marketing data as a form of market research – one that allows you to expand your digital reach and grow your business online.
How else does your business turn data-driven insights into marketing success?
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