A report from the Harvard Business Review, sponsored by Google, hit my inbox the other day and quantifiably confirms that marketers who use data to inform and influence campaigns see the biggest payoff.  A quote from the article that I really like is  "the biggest challenge that companies face isn’t talent. It’s the ability to move from data to action."  Getting buy-in from the top is key.

The types of Analytics the report considers, include:
1. Digital analytics, including customer journey analysis
2. Marketing analytics, including demand forecasting, attribution models, budget optimization
3. Customer analytics, including lifetime value, propensity to buy and segmentation 
4. Sales analytics 
5. Consumer surveys & research analytics

It's all well and good to measure and report after the fact, but we believe (and this paper proves) that using data prior to campaign execution promises an undeniable ROI.  We are huge proponents of Google Analytics and have used it to unlock information about the customer journey, channel attribution, customer/audience data, and so much more.

What is key to measurement with any Analytics is knowing what counts as a true, valuable conversion.  Once this is set up in a tool like Google Analytics, it's remarkably straightforward to trace the path (even down to the search query) that led to the purchase, sign up or lead, both on and off the website.

How can companies deepen customer relationships in the age of commoditization?
The report also said that "many companies are not gaining competitive advantage from analytics because they are still focused on product-centric strategies."  Netflix is highlighted as being successful in turning the product-centric model on its head.  Instead of casting a wide net like traditional cable companies, it has used viewer data to create series like House of Cards that fulfill the desires of their "best" customers, cementing the company's quality reputation.  

Customer relationships are really important in healthcare (obviously), so HCA Healthcare's digital marketing team has used analytics to measure the impact of online marketing on new patient growth.  Also, they use tools to analyze social chatter about their properties, leading to improvement in many areas from parking to patient accomodations.  Measuring all of this has also empowered the digital marketing team to create replicable best practices in managing patient acquisition and satisfaction.

What to do with all this data?
The report has lots of great graphs and anecodotes about how companies are dealing with data, but we will end with a good point from the article: "Instead of building data science capabilities, companies often bring on increasing numbers of analytics specialists"  This results in what Peter Fader from Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) calls a “data firehose”.  Companies are beginning to understand this, moving data analytics specialists onto the BUs and teams that need specific data to drive marketing objectives and report success or pivot strategies.  We are on board with this!  

Our mantra has always been "measure what you need", so let us help you get on the right track. Get in touch. 

See the whole report here.

If you read yesterday's Napoleon Dynamite quote post, you'll know that I can't resist clicking on Facebook's trending topics.  Today's is cheese advent calendar.  OMG!  Unfortunately, after cursory research and fixing myself an omelette, I discovered that these aren't available until 2017.  :(

I love a good advent calendar.  As a child, I delighted in opening up each door to discover a cute picture inside, and as a parent, I've realized that the real thrill of the advent calendar is the countdown itself to the BIG DOOR behind which, of course, is Christmas morning.  This year, my kids and I are forgoing a typical "open the door" advent calendar, and doing a really sweet 24 Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar.  I look forward to it.

Advent Calendar Keyword Research Example
As a certified Search Geek (tm), I couldn't resist going to Google and seeing what autocomplete had to suggest about different types of advent calendars.  What a great - albeit seasonal - product idea for the cool people on etsy, the grommet, uncommon goods, etc. to get into production for the coming seasons!  Here's a head start on your "advent calendar type" keyword research/consumer demand measurement which we would use as part of our SEO and PPC process.  Type in "advent calendar with" followed by any letter of the alphabet.  Here's w, for example:

Wooden whiskey advent calendars it is, friends!

In all seriousness, customer demand is a hard thing to gauge and it's a moving target.  As a Marketer, I've never seen any data that is more real time than what I just did above.   Add into the timeliness of the data, the fact that it's drawn from what is likely the largest repository of our deepest desires (GOOGLE) and you've got a pretty solid foundation.  Thanks for visiting!

I admit, I use my Facebook feed as a primary news source.  Is that bad?  Not if you are one of the first to see #napoleondynamite trending!  I am not too shy to admit that this is my favorite movie of all time.  I love it so much, in fact, that I hope there's never a part 2, BUT that doesn't mean I'm not kind of in love with Napoleon & Pedro's reunion in this BK commercial for cheesy tots.​

Napoleon Dynamite Search Query Leads to Google Autocomplete Discovery!
So, what the heck does this have to do with SEO?  A lot!  Thinking back to 2008ish, when I was trying to remember all of the best quotes from Napoleon Dynamite, I Googled "napoleon dynamite quotes" and magically saw my search query grow to include more words like "about tater tots", "about llamas", "about skim milk", etc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Google had done half the work for me.  

How Does Google Suggest Work?
This was the advent of Google Suggest, one of my favorite tools for keyword research for SEO AND PPC.
Google Suggest (or Google autocomplete) suggests search queries based on a few things, including:

• what you've typed in so far + your past search history
• other people's searches and trending stories - THIS is the real keyword goldmine, as you can free associate queries against real user data to determine what to optimize a page, a post, or a full section of content about.  And, the algorithm just gets better over time.

Try it yourself!  I just did,  Here are today's autocomplete results (11/30/16) for "Napoleon Dynamite quotes". It appears that the Tina quote (Tina, come get some ham!) is the most popular today, but if you Google "napoleon dynamite" by itself, you'll see Napoleon Dynamite Burger King as the #3 auto suggest result.  Talk about real time.  Thanks, Google!
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