The marketing industry has a data problem. How can you fix it?

There’s never been so much data available. According to Forbes, almost all of the world’s data was created in the past few years. Now that you have all that data, do you know what to do with it? And can it be done ethically, reliably, and efficiently? Absolutely it can, but before looking at how to manage our marketing data in a better way, let’s look at why there’s a data problem in the first place.

Whether you have too much data, or it’s scattered across platforms, or you’re manually pasting together your reports, you’re not alone. Marketers globally are struggling too. So let’s look deeper into the problem with marketing data and how you can fix it.

Fast forward >>

• What’s the problem with marketing data
• How can you fix your marketing data problem
  • Marketing analytics for small businesses
  • Marketing analytics for in-house teams
  • Marketing analytics for large companies
  • Marketing analytics for agencies
• Why you should care
  • Operational efficiency
  • From data-driven to insights-driven
  • Business impact
• How do you move forward

What’s the problem with marketing data

You can have one of three problems: you’re not using any data, you have too much data in too many places, or you can’t manage the data you have with the resources you have.

With all the different tools businesses are using these days, there’s a ton of raw data scattered all over or siloed in tools that aren’t compatible with each other. And no one likes to copy-paste that stuff in order to create meaningful, actionable reports.

Then again, you could have all the data you need but still can’t get to the answers you’re looking for. You might lack resources, or you might not have the right infrastructure in place.

So you have marketers who aren’t getting the answers they need and analysts who are trying their best to make sense of fragmented, sometimes unreliable data.

There’s no easy way to say this: if you don’t have quick access to reliable data, and can act on it now, you’ll be left behind while your competition is way ahead.

So if you don’t have the right data expertise, lack an accessible, reliable data infrastructure, or can’t get the answers from the data you have, is there a way forward?

How can you fix your marketing data problem

The answer is simple: you need to integrate your data from its source to the analytics destination you want to use. Automatically and reliably.

But don’t stress—we’re here to help you build that pipeline and move you forward in your data journey.

There’s no solution that fits all

Since businesses are different, data needs are different.

You might need a simple weekly report or a complex data infrastructure with fresh, reliable, accessible data. Either way, the solution doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does need to answer your needs.

Marketing analytics for small businesses

Say you have an online shop that you’re running yourself. You have a limited team if any team at all. You have some paid campaigns, some social media accounts, and a website. You probably have a limited budget too, so you don’t want to waste too much of your budget on channels that aren’t working for you.

What are your data needs? Budget tracking, website and online store traffic and sales, and probably an overview of your marketing campaign performance. You can get started in a few clicks with our Google Sheets add-on and pull your data from different sources so you can have them in one place automatically.

Marketing analytics for in-house teams

When you have a marketing team in house, you have full-time resources to run your campaigns. But you also have scattered data that isn’t easily put into a consolidated report. You might have data on different platforms or even different countries.

So if you want to easily know what’s going on across all your marketing efforts, try out our ready-made Google Data Studio dashboard template. Already designed and just waiting for you to connect your data sources.

Marketing analytics for large companies

Having the resources doesn’t always mean you’re getting the answers you need from your data. In larger companies, you might have siloed data management that isn’t easily accessible to the people who need it when they need it.

When you look at a solution to make the most out of your data, you might worry about scalability, customization options, automatization, and security.

We care about those things too. Check out our wide range of data management solutions.

Marketing analytics for agencies

The fast pace of agency work is exciting, but also, every client has their own specific requirements when it comes to execution and measurement. You need the flexibility to customize to your clients’ needs. Some might need monthly reports, others need daily updates or even complex data modeling—but either way, we’ve got you covered. See how you can cover all those needs with a mix of tools that work for agencies.

Why you should care

Before looking deeper into the problem and how to fix it, let’s look at why you should care about fixing your marketing data problem in the first place.

You could be spending your time doing more productive work instead of endless copy-pasting and manual reporting.

You could gain the insights you need to make better business decisions instead of getting the wrong data that might lead you down the wrong path.

And most importantly, you could increase your business revenue instead of leaving it to your competitors.

Operational efficiency

What’s the impact of having operational efficiency? You have less maintenance time, which means you have more time to do the work you want to do. But for that to happen, you need to start streamlining your workflow.

From data-driven to insights-driven

Although making data-driven decisions is great—if you move towards insights-driven decisions, you’ll get better results faster. Having the right data isn’t enough—you also need the right analysis and actionable insights to move forward. Leading to better insights in less time.

Business impact

It’s not difficult to see how better insights, in less time, will lead to more revenue. But really, what happens is that you make better decisions, have lower costs, and ultimately, get a competitive advantage.

How do you move forward

The way forward starts with people and is enabled by the right tools. And in a world of increased data privacy, the capacity to build a stable and reliable data stack is crucial. And although managing all that data is challenging, we make sure to have the right products, enabled by our internal data experts, so you can move forward on your data journey without worrying about reliably moving your data to where you need it.

So whether you’re a small business, or a large corporation, a marketer, or a data analyst, our team is here to get you where you want to be—in a place where you can focus on what matters most, without worrying about making sense of your data chaos.