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Marketing Analytics: How to Make Your Association’s Data Count

Don’t let your association’s data get brushed to the side. Allow your marketing analytics strategy to push your marketing efforts forward and create future success for your organization by leaving no valuable piece of data behind.

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If your association wants to get the most out of its marketing strategy, incorporating marketing analytics could be the right route for you. According to the CMO Survey conducted by Duke University and backed by both Deloitte LLP and the American Marketing Association (AMA), the percentage of marketing budgets across the board that are looking to incorporate analytics into their strategy is up from 5.8% to 17.3%. That’s right, there’s a 198% increase in those numbers. It’s clear that marketing analytics is a top contender to any organization’s strategy. But for some associations who are seeing minimal effect from using marketing analytics already, these numbers can seem confusing. What are you missing out on when it comes to efficiency and success?

This all has to do with the way collected data is used. Your association could be putting in the effort to collect data and analyze that data to yield results. However, if not handled properly, you could be missing out on prime answers, therefore holding your marketing strategy back.

this article will give your association an insight on how to make your recorded data count when it comes to marketing analytics. We’ll discuss proper techniques for collecting and analyzing data, as well as what to do with that analytic insight once it’s found. So, if you’re an association looking to develop or enhance its marketing analytics efforts, you’ve come to the right place.

More data than ever before

Although your association may find itself struggling to access data needed to make informed decisions, the truth of the matter is that data is more available and plentiful than ever. With a multitude of marketing analytic solutions (more than 6,000 to be exact) out there and a wide source of tools to help collect data, there are endless options for associations looking to get a better grasp on the data they’re looking for. But if you aren’t sure where and how to find said data, you could be missing out on a lot of marketing opportunity.

To start, let’s talk about generating data about your marketing audience through form fills. Let’s say your association has a decent library of downloadable content to offer members (and if not- here’s why you should). If you’re allowing members and audiences to download this content without collecting information from them, you’re missing out on heaps of helpful internet data that can increase marketing accuracy. To combat this, be sure to create a form for members to fill out with helpful data.

For example, you may want to collect your audience’s email addresses to add them to your email list. Or, you could want to know what company they work for to gain insight on your audience demographic. In any case, a form fill can help you collect more data than ever before. Conversely, your association may have too much data to sift through. If you data is being collected from a variety of sources, it can be easy to lose sight of data organization in a sea of multiple channels. Your association may lack the tools needed to keep all of your data separate and easy to scan through. For this, it’s important to monitor exactly how your data is collected before the collection process. With all of this data coming at your association, it’s important you construct a collection plan that makes sense when it comes to organization for proper analytics. Or, you can look into a data collection tool that will organize your data for you. With both too little or too much data, your association can fall short on information. Help yourself out by collecting data in a smarter fashion.

Who’s on your analysis team?

With all of this valuable data in front of you, it seems like analyzing this data and coming up with brighter solutions for your association is a no brainer. But if you don’t have the right analysis team behind your organization, your association could suffer. In the CMO Survey previously mentioned, only 1.9% of marketing leaders report having the right people behind their analysis team to get the job done. With a percentage that minute, your association could feel some pressure when organizing an analysis team of its own. So, it’s essential that your association’s top staff gets together to select an analysis team that will do right by your organization.

If you feel a disconnect between the data and the data team, it’s essential to sit down and align, organize, and manage your association’s analysis squad. Evaluate which members are pulling their weight, which seem to be falling behind, and where gaps can be filled with new members to get the job done. However, if you’re an association who runs low on resources and talent in your team for analysis, it could be a good idea to outsource your team. If it seems hard to allocate analytic sources inside your association's team, you can research and look into services that will allow you to have your data analyzed by a specialized team. There are a variety of resources and toolkits out there for your association to use to help power your analysis efforts. If your association is struggling to get the answers it’s looking for, it’s time to put your analysis team to the test. Managing your team and incorporating new resources can help you create a combination that drives your marketing analytics upwards.

Relate your data to your association

During the process of data analytics, it can be easy to get wrapped up within the sea of data and lose focus on the reason behind the analysis: Your association. Keeping your association in mind when performing a data analysis is key to pushing your marketing efforts forward. All of the data provided within your data collection is nothing if not related back to your association’s mission, members, drive, and much more. Be sure to keep in mind that your analysis is the driving force to excel your association’s marketing strategy through its mission and members.

What does this mean? Well, when coming to analytic conclusions and problem solving, you want to keep your marketing struggles in line with your association’s beliefs. It’s important to relate every decision back to the good of your membership and the mission statement your association projects towards that membership. If you forget about those driving forces, your data analysis could take your association in a direction that differs from its desired path. Think about it this way, you wouldn’t want to market to vegetarians if your organization sold meat. Allow your data to work hand in hand with your association’s mission, and you’ll find an effective marketing strategy will come in no time.

Don’t let your association’s data get brushed to the side. Allow your marketing analytics strategy to push your marketing efforts forward and create future success for your organization by leaving no valuable piece of data behind. By following this advice, your association could see a positive shift in its marketing plan.