Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Marketing Analytics
Marketing analytics is the practice of measuring,
managing and analyzing marketing performance to
maximize its effectiveness and optimize return on
investment (ROI). Understanding marketing analytics
allows marketers to be more efficient at their jobs and
minimize web marketing dollars.

Marketing analytics involves the technologies and

processes CMOs and marketers use to evaluate the success
and value of their efforts. As such, marketing analytics
uses various metrics to measure the performance of
marketing initiatives. Effective marketing analytics gathers
data from all sources and channels and combines it into a
single view.

Characteristics of Marketing Analytics:

1. Ensure high-quality data

Your analytics rest on your data. That means you need a
tool that mines both structured and unstructured
customer data from all possible sources, including various
interactions and touch points.

2. Get real-time insights

Your marketing analytics solution also needs to deliver
real-time insights to you. You can’t be effective if your
information is out-of-date; tracking the right metrics at the
right time is key.

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3. Perfect your dashboard

While it may be tempting to track as many metrics as
possible, your analytics will not be as useful if you do.
Rather, define your goals and measure results for the use
cases most important to you.

4. Choose the right analytics visualization

Marketing teams and stakeholders must be able to make
something of the data if you are to gain meaningful insights
from it. The key is to choose the most appropriate data
visualizations so you can find patterns and interpret the
data. Thus, you must choose a marketing analytics
solution that allows you to choose or customize your
visualizations instead of using default charts for displaying
data.

5. Use a tool featuring machine learning and AI to

predict and prescribe
Marketing must be real-time and predictive to be effective
today. You must be able to make accurate predictions,
analyze the data, and make data-driven decisions to
enhance each step of the customer journey.

Advantages and Disadvantages of

Marketing Analytics

Advantages of Marketing Analytics:

1. Granular Segmentation
Marketing departments depend on the right segmenting to
deliver impactful messaging and relevant communications

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to leads and customers. After all, one email that targets

males aged 20–55 probably won’t incite as much
engagement compared to a message targeting a smaller age
bracket, an audience with a shared interest or audience
with similar spending activity.
But there’s a reason many marketing analytics teams don’t
go as granular as they’d like in their communications. It’s
because they don’t have access to marketing analytics
dashboards that instantly group customers based on
different metrics.
For example, a marketing assistant could search
ThoughtSpot for customers that have purchased six or
more times this year in the Southwest region to gather
contacts for an upcoming joint promotion with a business
chain in the area.

2. Tailored Messaging
Effective marketing has always been about persuasion. But
instead of trying to persuade the masses, marketing today
is about delivering personalized messaging and offers to
both customers and potential customers alike.
Send something irrelevant to a lead and they’ll disregard
the message and probably your business along with it. Do
the same thing to an active guest and they’ll think you’re
not paying close enough attention, damaging your rapport.
Marketing analytics tools can also play an integral role in
the timing of communications and the mode through which
they’re sent. This gives businesses the best chance of
reaching customers in a good state of mind.

3. Multi-Channel Customer View

The more a marketing department interacts with leads and
customers, the better understanding they have of their
audience base. This is especially helpful in our digital age
because, just like the preference of communication
medium, consumers tend to spend time in different places.

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Tracking customer behavior, including engagement and

buying activity across channels, gives marketing a
comprehensive understanding of how to interact with a
customer. This includes what kinds of communications
they respond best and worst toward, as well as strategies
that can increase their lifetime value.

4. Marketing Analytics with ThoughtSpot

Leveraging a marketing data analytics tool offers knowledge
at scale for an entire marketing department and beyond.
Platforms like ThoughtSpot allow marketing teams to better
segment audiences, deliver tailored messaging and gain a
complete view of customers across channels.

Disadvantages of Marketing Analytics:

1. Misidentifying Market Needs

One of the elements of your marketing analysis is
identifying the needs of each market segment. It also
identifies other businesses and products that are
attempting to satisfy the needs of this segment. The
disadvantage of doing this is twofold. You may overestimate
how well your competition is meeting the customers’ needs
and quit before you even try to market. You also may
misidentify the need that is being met. Don’t overlook the
uniqueness of your own offering. Just because competition
wants the same customer you do, that doesn’t mean you
are satisfying the same need.

2. Evaluating Market Growth without Market Share

Your marketing analysis will include a look at how the
overall market is growing, which can give you some idea of
your range of opportunities. If your analysis discourages
you, however, it can be a disadvantage. You can
successfully compete in a limited market if you capture
market share. An analysis of the market size alone is not

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enough to indicate your opportunities. Improved market

share can compensate for a slow-growth market.

3. Market Segmentation Versus Target Markets

You must identify the segments of the market that have
potential customers for your products or services. This will
help you understand the varied approaches you may need
to take to reach different types of customers. The downside
is that you may spread yourself too thin. Few businesses
can afford to market to every single potential customer.
Identify a target market that you choose from among the
available segments, and go after that target market in a
focused manner.

4. Improper Interpretation of Data

A marketing analysis is only as good as the analyzer. You
can collect a lot of data in market surveys, but interpreting
that data correctly is vital. You will be at an extreme
disadvantage if you misinterpret facts and make decisions
based on that misinterpretation. Run your analysis past a
trusted adviser or two. Make sure your analysis is not
wishful thinking.

Market Data Sources

(Primary and Secondary)

Primary Market Research

Primary research is research that is conducted by you, or
someone you pay to do original research on your behalf.  In
the case of primary research, you are generating your own
data from scratch as opposed to finding other people’s

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data.  You might choose to gather this data by running a

survey, interviewing people, observing behavior, or by using
some other market research method.

Secondary Market Research

Sometimes called “desk research” (because it can be done
from behind a desk), this technique involves research and
analysis of existing research and data; hence the name,
“secondary research.” 

Stakeholders
A stakeholder is a party that has an interest in a company
and can either affect or be affected by the business. The
primary stakeholders in a typical corporation are its
investors, employees, customers and suppliers. However,

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the modern theory of the idea goes beyond this original

notion to include additional stakeholders such as a
community, government or trade association.
Stakeholders can be internal or external. Internal
stakeholders are people whose interest in a company comes
through a direct relationship, such as employment,
ownership or investment. External stakeholders are those
people who do not directly work with a company but are
affected in some way by the actions and outcomes of said
business. Suppliers, creditors and public groups are all
considered external stakeholders.

Internal Stakeholder
Investors are a common type of internal stakeholder and
are greatly impacted by the outcome of a business. If, for
example, a venture capital firm decides to invest $5 million
into a technology startup in return for 10% equity and
significant influence, the firm becomes an internal
stakeholder of the startup. The return of the company’s
investment hinges on the success, or failure, of the startup,
meaning it has a vested interest.

External Stakeholder
External stakeholders are a little harder to identify, seeing
as they do not have a direct relationship with the company.
Instead, an external stakeholder is normally a person or
organization affected by the operations of the business.
When a company goes over the allowable limit of carbon
emissions, for example, the town in which the company is
located is considered an external stakeholder because it is
affected by the increased pollution.
Conversely, external stakeholders may also sometimes have
a direct effect on a company but are not directly tied to it.
The government, for example, is an external stakeholder.
When it makes policy changes on carbon emissions,

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continuing from above, the decision affects the operations

of any business with increased levels of carbon.

Stakeholders vs. Shareholders

Stakeholders are bound to a company with some type of vested

interest, usually for a longer term and for reasons of greater need.
A shareholder, meanwhile, has a financial interest, but a
shareholder can sell a stock and buy different stock or keep the
proceeds in cash; they do not have a long-term need for the
company and can get out at any time.
For example, if a company is performing poorly financially, the
vendors in that company’s supply chain might suffer if the
company no longer uses their services. Similarly, employees of
the company, who are stakeholders and rely on it for income,
might lose their jobs. However, shareholders of the company can
sell their stock and limit their losses.

Market Size

Market size can be simply defined as “the number of people

likely to buy a product or service.” Many businesses have a
rough idea of who their market is or how many individuals
it might involve, but it’s important to accurately estimate
market size in order to plan for things like budgets, sales
goals, marketing efforts, and staffing. Knowing how large
your market can be directly proportional to your business
efforts. Using smart market size estimation techniques is
an important planning step.

How to Evaluate Market Size?

There are several kinds of market sizing techniques that
businesses should consider and use in their market size
analysis. The most important step, before considering

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anything that will help you estimate your market, is having

good data that accurately paints the picture of the
marketplace or industry. Having good data and research is
necessary to understanding how to estimate your market
size. Before working with any market size estimation
techniques, make sure you have solid information to draw
from and analyze. With good data, you can:

• Look at the competition: Are you the only provider of

your business or service locally? Regionally?
Nationally? This will tell you a lot about the potential
size of your market. If you have a lot of competition,
you know you are competing with other businesses for
customers, effectively reducing or limiting your
potential market.

• Understand your product: Be realistic about things

that will affect who will buy your product. Things like
cost, usefulness, reliability, or availability will
influence how many people are truly in your market.

• Understand your customer: Similar to understanding

your product, you must know something about your
customer when doing market size calculation. Are your
customers likely to be male? That tells you something
about your market. Are they likely to be college-
educated? Found in cities? Make a certain salary a
year? Knowing your target customer always leads to
helping you estimate your market size.