Data is a powerful tool that can inform and, when used appropriately, improve a business digital marketing strategy.
In today’s digital world, businesses generate vast amounts of data every day through online interactions with customers and various touch points via social media activity. The main challenge for businesses is how to properly collect, analyse, and use the data from website analytics to make strategic, informed decisions about their digital marketing efforts and where their spend should go.
Here are 5 ways a savvy business owner can use data to formulate a great digital marketing strategy.
Understanding Customer Demographics and Behaviours
Businesses can use data to gain a deeper understanding of their target audience, including their demographics, interests, behaviours, and preferences. All the data collected here can give you a more fuller picture of who your audience actually is – and compare that to the audience you initially intended to target.
There are one of two scenarios that can come from learning this: a) a surprising audience you didn’t intend to target, but are having a more lucrative result or b) the audience you didn’t want to target whom the product isn’t suitable for, and you want to change that.
If you find yourself in scenario a, then you can adjust. your advertising to better suit this unexpected audience to yield better results. However, in many cases, business owners find themselves with audiences that aren’t who they wanted.
For example, there was one business owner on TikTok who sold cute, bright bikinis for women. Naturally, like any clothing outlet, she posted images of people wearing her products. To her horror, she was finding that a massive majority of her audience weren’t young women, but rather men of various ages. And because her followers were mostly men, the TikTok algorithm kept showing her products to more men – and not at all reaching her intended demographic of young girls who would be looking to buy a new swimsuit for the summer season.
From looking at this data, she was able to pivot and redirect her organic social media efforts to feature less of bikini clad women and more about the products and behind the scenes packing orders (content ideas that appealed better to her intended audience). From this, she was able to get a more balanced audience, and increase her sales as her content was now being shown more to the people who were more likely to actually buy.
Key takeaway: Website analytics, social media stats, customer feedback, and surveys can be the keys to helping business owners understand their customers’ behaviours and creating more targeted and effective campaigns that align better with their goals.
Optimising Website Performance
Speaking of website analytics, there are some other areas that you should also consider when seeking to improve your digital marketing strategy.
By analysing website traffic, bounce rates, and conversion rates, you can identify areas of your website that need improvement, such as slow load times, confusing navigation, or ineffective call-to-actions. To combat this, we recommend ensuring your website is completely optimised to improve user experience, increase website traffic, and drive more conversions.
Another pro tip here: This is also a good way to ensure that your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) activities both on and off your website have been implemented correctly to assist in your website in ranking higher in Google for particular search terms that are relevant for your business.
Key takeaway: Analysing your audience’s activities on your website can tell you which areas need improvement. Optimise your website properly in order to be found by the right audiences.
Improving Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach out to your audience. It’s like sending a love letter to your customers, and data can help make it even more special.
By analysing the data from email campaigns, businesses can see which love letters are resonating and which ones are getting tossed in the trash. You can gain insight into open and click-through rates, which can be used to improve the relevance and effectiveness of future campaigns. For example, if you notice that email open rate is lower than expected, you could consider adjusting the subject line, sending time, or content to increase engagement.
Key takeaway: Data from email campaigns can help businesses understand which items their audiences want to know, and subsequently improve their open rates.
Identifying Social Media Success
Your social media channels generate vast amounts of data that can be used to shape your digital marketing strategy. Consider social media metrics such as engagement, reach, and follower growth, as this can help you identify which posts are resonating with their target audience and what types of content are driving the most engagement. From this, you can devise a content strategy that aligns with your audiences’ interests and business goals.
But the final actions taken by consumers may be different from their sentiments – but how to know what they were thinking? and how can you collect data on that so that you can predict future transactions? The Content Strategist has a great article explaining this, have a read here.
Key takeaway: Social media statistics can be the keys to helping business owners understand their customers. Regular interactions on social media can allow customers to give honest feedback about current services, while also giving ideas for possible opportunities.
Measuring Marketing ROI
Data can be used to measure the return on investment (ROI) of a business’s marketing efforts.
Marketing covers several areas, and in order to devise a cohesive strategy, it is good practice to regularly review data from across all of your marketing platforms (tv, radio, billboard, social media, search marketing, email marketing, SMS marketing). From this, you can calculate the cost of all of your marketing campaigns and compare it to the revenue generated. This information can be used to make informed decisions about which marketing channels are performing well and which ones need improvement.
Key takeaway: Reviewing data from all marketing efforts can help businesses determine which channels are generating profitable revenue and which ones could be improved.
Data is an incredibly valuable tool that can help every business owner make smarter, strategic decisions. It can help them identify potentially lucrative opportunities, understand their audiences more deeply, and be wiser with their marketing spend resulting in more conversions and increased revenue.
If you would like some help with your digital marketing strategy, get in touch – we like to start with coffee.
