How to Use Marketing Analytics for Business Success

As a business, you’ve undoubtedly got several different marketing “irons in the fire”: a website, various social media sites, television and/or radio commercials, billboards, pay-per-click ads, and probably more. And you’re hopeful that they’re all helping to drive your sales.  It’s the marketer’s dream: knowing exactly which advertisement caused every dollar of revenue. In the past, it was nearly impossible to track. The good news is that now there are systems that work to help you answer the questions “What’s working ?” and “What’s not worth the time and effort?”

I’m not talking about web analytics. No, you’ve probably already got that – Google Analytics or some other such service. You might even look at the reports on a regular basis. I’m talking about something much more in-depth – a way to track where each visitor to your website came from, what they clicked on while they were there, and tie all that together with their past interactions with your organization to create a complete customer profile.

Top companies are recognizing the power behind these numbers. In fact, this year’s CMO Survey reports that “Companies currently spend an average of 5.7% of their marketing budgets on marketing analytics and that this number is expected to grow to 9.1% in the next three years.”  Yet in a separate study, Unica’s 2011 State of Marketing Survey, 57% of marketers cited "measurement, analysis, and learning" as the biggest bottleneck they face within their organizations.

The problem we face is a divide amongst databases of information. We have a CRM to track our leads and prospects and their interactions with us. We have a separate email marketing system for our nurture marketing campaigns. We have a web analytics system that tracks the anonymous traffic and clicks our website receives.  Then we might have another system for special promotions. But none of those systems integrate or share information.  So we’re left trying to guesstimate how all of our efforts work in conjunction, without any clear, easy-to-follow links among them.  And don’t even bother trying to determine an accurate figure for ROI.

If this sounds like your situation, we probably have a solution you need.  Our mantra at Cleriti is “Clear. Digital. ROI.” We believe in closed-loop marketing, which ties together your marketing systems to create that complete customer portrait, making your communications with each customer clearer and more effective. And above all else, closed-loop marketing gives you the ability to determine ROI accurately, enabling you to determine which programs are working, and which just aren’t worth your time.

Want to learn more on closed-loop marketing or get other tips to make marketing your business easier? Subscribe to our blog here or send us an e-mail!  We’re passionate about what we do and would love to talk with you about it!