FINAL WORD
SALES SUCCESS
Data-driven strategy Cassie Marvin, marketing consultant at Sense Marketing, on utilising data to enhance your marketing strategy
I
t was 17 years
dealers? And how do they go about
ago that I studied
creating one?
Management
Before embarking on any new
by Objectives –
strategy it’s worth remembering that
known as MBO
nothing worthwhile ever comes easily,
- by Drucker. His philosophy focused
and if developing a data-driven strategy
around ‘What gets measured gets
was simple every business would be
managed’ and he talked about company
doing it. But don’t be deterred, the
goals and S.M.A.R.T objectives.
rewards for doing it well are significant.
I won’t lie, I found it fairly tedious
Cassie Marvin
So, you have a stack of ‘customer
and didn’t appreciate the significance
information’, where do you begin? It’s
of it at the time, but I did take away
important at the start to draft your
may deliver some interesting results
the principle of the topic - don’t waste
goals – what do you want to achieve?
- such as patterns or trends that you
time measuring everything that moves.
Higher customer retention rates? More
may not have not noticed before. If
Instead, spend your energy determining
new leads from your website? Building
you’re looking at website analytics, is
what to measure, and what importance
better brand reputation? Or maybe your
there a certain day that you receive
will be placed on those numbers.
goal relates to your products, services
more visits? If you ran a social media
or pricing? Starting with one clear
promotion, which post delivered the
measurement and data is that not
objective will give you focus and clarity
most engagement? Why might that be?
everyone is analytical. Sometimes the
on why you are going to invest valuable
task of trawling through spreadsheets
time in looking into your data.
I think one of the issues with
and CRM systems can be a daunting
Consider what data will be the most
The power of data lies in what you do with it. Many times I have heard businesses talk about the ‘thousands’ of
one, particularly when we are all so
useful and relevant in supporting your
customer records that they historically
busy. However, our world has changed,
goal. Sources could include Google
hold, and yet no analysis, reporting or
and businesses need to get smarter in
and social media analytics, your
activity is done with these.
how they market themselves to existing
in-house database or CRM system,
and potential customers.
customer survey information - or even
fire for a business. My advice? Find
information collected by your customer
the time to spark interest within your
service team.
business to consider a data-driven
Competition is fierce, and customers can be fickle, so how can a data-driven strategy benefit office
Taking an initial look at your data
Data can be the fuel that lights the
approach.
www.dealersupport.co.uk MARCH 2021 [47]
