Summary:

• Measurement and analytics are key to all business success
• Transparency in data is the key, no hiding “the red” it just doesn’t help
• Providing this data in its entirety isn’t always easy
• What doesn’t work is just as important as what does

The importance of data and its relationship with business success has been a key theme in many a digital marketing discussion for a good long while now. However, the constant changes across the web due to privacy and its impact on digital marketing, has only made this more prevalent in recent years.

Let’s be realistic. Data is the key ingredient in any digital transformation efforts. In order to stay competitive, it is now expected that businesses become ‘data driven’. This means that businesses need to use their gigs of data to help make smarter, faster decisions and in turn gain more meaningful insights about their customers and the solutions they are looking for, as opposed to what you “think” they want or need.

However, providing accurate information about the impact of marketing and sales initiatives can feel challenging, despite the leaps and bounds analytics technologies have made and the ever-widening availability of measurement tools.

At SIVACOM we meet a lot of people that get a monthly report on “key data” each month, a document that is cobbled together from multiple locations, only showing the bare basic vanity information. Suffice to say it doesn’t scream transparency, nor is it helpful to develop smart business decisions around.

No finger pointing going on here though, we are no angels! We are casting dispersions on ourselves as much as our industry here, as alas, we too used to prescribe to this way of reporting. In our minds we thought the client just wanted the good stuff, the quick and easy gains, however, what we found is that it just doesn’t cut it.

So, we did something radical and simply asked our clients what they wanted. (I know, crazy right?!) and from this amazing feedback, we created our own reporting app for our clients. A place where our clients can log in and see all of their results across every integration of their digital presence, good or bad, at any time of the day or night, with or without us, by just logging in.

No more monthly reports, no cutting and pasting to remove “the red” just pure and simple data, in an easy-to-read format, that shows the good, the bad and the ugly. Each month we go live with our clients and review it all together and from this, we analyse in partnership how we are going to move forward.

Showing all results, happy or sad, is a far better way to succeed in your marketing strategy than only the good. Understanding where you went wrong, or what didn’t work is just as important as what we do well, and all this information helps us lean into the best way to do things moving forward.