Why data is so important – and how to use it to boost your marketing results

Business

Are you leveraging the full power of data? Find out why it’s so important – and how to use it to boost your marketing results.

Data is hardly the sexiest word. But without great data, your beautifully designed ads, or clever social media campaigns won’t work.

In fact, without data, most of your marketing – if not business – decisions will be made in the dark. Which is a dangerous and expensive position to be in.

So what kind of data do you need to gather? And how should you be using it?

Gather the right data for your business

There are lots of different types of data that are important for your business. But you don’t have the time and brain space to gather and analyse it all. So a significant part of a successful data strategy is identifying what to focus on.

Some of the most popular and useful data involves your target market and competitors, marketing and social media analytics, customer data (such as their age, gender, income, online activity etc), and prospect data.

Don’t forget your own KPIs (key performance indicators). These might include the number of collected emails, clicks, subscriptions, web traffic and more. By keeping your focus on this data you’ll improve your digital marketing strategy. 

Get to know your audience

As you’re no doubt aware, the key digital marketing success is knowing your main audience and channels. And the more data you have on your customers, the easier you’ll find it to get the results you want.

As well as personal information such as age, gender and occupation, you need to understand their motivations for purchasing or using what you offer – the problem you solve for them and what kind of results they want. (If you’re not already clear on your target audience, you’ll find this masterclass helpful.)

It’s also important to track the main channels and technology your audience uses. For example, if you learn that they visit your site via mobile you can use this data to optimize your online presence for mobile use. Or if you discover that your ideal customers favour Instagram over other social media channels, you can focus your efforts there.

Improve your marketing strategy with the right keywords

SEO is one of the most effective ways to build your brand online – and get traffic to your website. But if you want to make a success of SEO you’ll need to understand how it works, and plan the right keyword strategy.

When you understand what keywords your audience are using to look for information about what you do, or solve the problem you help them with, you can plan a strategy that will help you to rank for them. (Beware choosing keywords that are too vague or too competitive, however.)

If you want to DIY your own SEO for your small business, and confidently plan and implement a keyword strategy, take a look at the Talented Ladies Club online SEO course.

How to use data in your campaigns

Gathering data is just one part of improving your digital marketing strategy. Once you have the right data, you need to use it to optimise your campaigns.

You need to track and measure any campaigns, and continually adjust them to maximise performance. And use the valuable data you gather to make more informed decisions going forward. For example, if the results show that Facebook ads fare better than Google ads for you, you can upweight your budget in their favour.

You can also use data to identify the best times of the day to show ads to your audience, and the kind of social posts that get the best engagement. Over time these insights will hep you to boost your conversion rates and ROI.

Read more marketing tips

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Michael Deane has worked in marketing for almost a decade and has worked with a huge range of clients, which has made him knowledgeable on many different subjects. You can read more of Michael’s work at Qeedle.

Photo by Will Francis