Crafting the perfect marketing strategy can feel like trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Ultimately, you want to produce something wonderful and maybe a little magical. However, if you do it wrong, you’re left completely empty-handed.
When tasked with developing a strategy, rely on the information you have readily at your disposal. You can find data sets to peruse on social media, your website, or through a service like Google Analytics. You can also use tools like Yoast SEO, Tableau, or an AI marketing platform like Hawke AI to help you find and make sense of it all. In this article, you’ll learn exactly which analytics will help you build your marketing strategy.
Audience Demographics
Before you start any campaign, you need to know who you are marketing to. Are you trying to reach new customers similar to your current ones? Or are you hoping to tap into a new market? Either way, reviewing your audience demographic analytics will help. You’ll be able to see if your current audience is primarily male or female, how old they are, and where they live.
You should be able to find this information on the backend of your website. Just be sure you have the necessary tools installed. If you look at these analytics through social media, you can compare your usual audience to those who see and engage with your ads.
Reviewing who is currently interacting with campaigns is a good way to check if you’re reaching the people you are trying to target. With that information, you can create a campaign aimed at the people most likely to take action.
Engagement Rates
People ready to take action are only half of what you need for successful marketing. You also have to produce content they want to engage with. Check your engagement rates to determine if your current output is meeting the mark. This percentage is the total number of interactions on a post divided by your total followers, then multiplied by 100%.
According to Hootsuite, most social media marketers consider a good engagement rate to be between 1% and 5%. Those sound like low numbers, but those metrics are difficult to achieve as your audience grows. To find your engagement rate, look at the analytics on your social media platforms. On Facebook, this is under your Professional Dashboard. On Instagram, you’ll find it under Insights.
Use the information you find about engagement to determine if you’re sending the right message. Producing content that many people see but few people interact with means it’s time for a change in strategy. Instead, focus on what will make people answer your call to action.
Email Click-Through Rate
Marketing is all about creating a path you want each one of your customers to follow. Use the data from analytics to be sure you’re leading them in the right direction. One way to check this is by looking at your email click-through rate. This number will tell you what percentage of people opened, read, and then clicked a link you sent them.
Similar to the engagement rate, this number will let you know if your current marketing strategy is working or needs altering. A high rate says you’re on the right track, while a lower rate means it’s time to try something else. High and low are subjective, as a good click-through rate is typically 2% to 5%. What is considered a “good” click-through rate will vary by industry, so research your range.
Once you have a goal, let your marketing strategy guide how you get there. If more people click links in shorter emails, ditch the longer ones. You may find that certain styles of subject lines tend to have higher clicks. Whatever you uncover, you can use the information to help drive leads in the future.
Lead Generation
An important question to ask yourself as you go through your analytics is what are the results of what you are doing now? Are the actions you are currently taking leading to your desired result? You want to determine if you are getting leads from the marketing you are presently doing. If so, make sure it remains part of your strategy. If not, then you know for sure it’s time to change.
To do this, look at the sales you’ve made or deals you’ve closed recently. Then, consider how those customers entered your funnel. You may have put a pop-up contact form on your website or started a subscription-based newsletter. After their initial action, did they do what you expected, and was that worth the resources you put in? Looking at your leads this way can help you determine where to put your efforts.
Lead generation data can be beneficial if you need to convince others of your strategy’s merits as well. It’s hard to argue with facts, figures, trends, and statistics. You’ll all be able to learn from your successes and mistakes, both of which are necessary to make a good plan moving forward.
In marketing, it’s important to use all the tools at your disposal. Look at the analytics for any actions you take, and see what you can learn from them. Compare and contrast the data you receive from different sources to maybe find something new. By taking a holistic approach and relying on analytics, you will create a successful marketing strategy.
