Understanding Analytics to Help Your Marketing Strategy

When it comes to marketing for your small business, data is your best friend. The ability to understand and craft content for your intended audience through data analytics gives you a competitive edge, improves customer relationships, and increases sales.But understanding analytics can be complicated. With so much data out there, the ability to condense and interpret information can be daunting. The right approach gives you the tools to widen your client base and better engage your online visitors.From Google Analytics to cybersecurity, understanding data management through analytics can put your business on the right path towards higher revenues. All you need is a little background knowledge.Navigating Google AnalyticsAmong the many useful analytics tools available to small businesses — many of them free — Google Analytics helps you achieve your marketing goals. This platform provides excellent quantitative resources that can help you build a quality strategy for getting your content and products out there.Google Analytics helps you track and measure:

• Bounce Rate
• Dimensions
• Metrics
• Sessions
• Users

By compiling this data on a handy dashboard, you can observe in real-time how your audience is reacting to your content. There are plenty of numbers and data you can track, but you want to keep your focus on the Audience, Acquisition, and Behavior metrics available through Google Analytics.AudienceThis tab of your Analytics dashboard allows you to see insights into the demographics of your audience. Who is viewing your content? What is their age? Where are they located? What is their gender? Audience keeps you in the know, allowing you to segment and craft your marketing strategy for the best effect.AcquisitionThe Acquisition tab informs you of the conversion path of your customers. How did they get to your site? What was their click pattern? Here, you can find this information as well as customer behavior data that will help you understand where you are most and least effectively creating traffic.BehaviorThe Behavior tab shows you what your audience is doing once they’ve found your site. From click-through to bounce rate, you can see where audiences are engaging and where they aren’t. This information helps you improve your website and hone your strategy.Once you have a good handle on these three components of Google Analytics, you can gain a clear perspective on your content strategy that will inform your goals and improve your marketing. Paired with Outbrain campaigns, you can even conduct simple hacks that let you optimize your content strategy.Conducting Keyword ResearchA large part of effective analytics for any marketing strategy is understanding the use of keywords. Keywords are integral in the ways audiences and search engines find and rank your site, so your strategy should begin with efficient keyword research.Once again, plenty of free online tools are available to help you in this regard. You can use everything from Google Ads Keyword Planner to other third-party sites like keywordresearch.io. By investigating how your audience is searching for content, you can examine how to craft your marketing to meet their needs better and end up on their search engine results pages (SERPs).Here’s what you should know in the course of your research:

• Specify your strategy, target your audience, and market ad content more cheaply with long-tail keywords — keywords that exist in a phrase.
• Use keywords that rank in the low- to medium-competition range if you are looking for a cheaper ad strategy that can still reach a specific audience.
• Think of ways users would conversationally use search to accommodate the increasing use of voice searching.

By understanding the keywords your audience and competitors are using, you can improve your strategy for an effective marketing campaign. This aspect of analytics, alongside tools like Google Analytics, can help you achieve significant results while increasing the value of your business through data.Using Your DataOnce you have compiled a suite of data to use in your strategy through practical tools, you can then begin to apply that data by following three primary steps:

1. Understand the customer journey. In this step, your Acquisition data from Google Analytics will come into play, as well as Audience information. You need to understand who your audience is and how they are stumbling upon your content. By crafting personas or unifying your marketing approach with that information in mind, you can increase your ROI and build a strategy that plays into your audience’s wants and needs.
2. Create a narrative around your audience. All of your accumulated data isn’t working as effectively as it should if it isn’t telling you a story. That narrative will take extra time and analysis to determine, as AI analytics cannot show you everything. However, with a compelling narrative in mind, you can tell a story about who your audience is, the problems they are having, and why they are drawn to your product. A narrative is a great way to pitch and build up your company’s strengths, and it helps you communicate both to your coworkers and your customers.
3. Build an effective cross-channel marketing approach. In the deluge of advertising, we all see every day, the average customer may pass by without a second thought. With a cross-channel strategy, you can reinforce your outreach, building customer trust and interest across mediums. Find where your audience is through data tools, then purchase your advertising to reach them on various channels.

Ensuring Your CybersecurityEvery business that utilizes a digital space should have a plan for cybersecurity and customer data protection. In managing your marketing strategy, you should not forget the value of this component. Audiences will be less likely to buy from you without a secure website, and your rankings on search engines like Google will dip if audiences do not feel safe browsing your content.Every small business should integrate cybersecurity into its effective marketing strategy. OneSpan lists the following tips on how to manage this:

1. Apply device encryption through a virtual private network (VPN).
2. Limit company access to databases only to users who require authorization.
3. Invest in powerful antivirus software.
4. Provide multi-factor identification options for your customers.
5. Train employees in cybersecurity practices.

While no amount of preparation can completely guarantee the safety of user data, taking the proper steps will help you maintain customer trust and Google rankings.Maximizing Your Marketing StrategyData and analytics are instrumental in marketing strategies. With the help of these processes, you can craft a marketing campaign that targets your audience with precision, professionalism, and power, increasing your ROI and customer satisfaction.Navigating Google Analytics, conducting keyword research, and using your data securely will maximize your content strategy to draw in customers and increase your conversion rate. The personalization and specificity of data analytics offers small businesses a distinct advantage, one necessary for thriving in the modern, big data world.