Quick win of the week: “Selling” analytics

In the words of renowned management theorist Peter Drucker:

What gets measured gets managed.

In the real-time, uber-competitive online space, the success of a site (and likely YOU as a web analyst/online marketer) is dependent on the team’s ability to successfully do a few things quickly and effectively: optimize for search engine rank, generate online leads, boost traffic via high-performing advertising campaigns, and build social media engagement (i.e. a large number of Facebook fans). While analytics (i.e. the measurement) is seen as beneficial  in driving EFFECTIVE, QUALITY results or recommendations, it often comes as a secondary “nice-to-have” support to these primary, results-driven actions.

This is understandable – small businesses ESPECIALLY do not have time to sit around and analyze numbers  all day without just getting out there and getting the job done! The analyst’s approach to this?

The DON’T: “I can analyze the data to give you valuable recommendations for site changes.”

This just adds to the team’s “to-do” list, and really they don’t have time for you to analyze – they need you to get 100 Facebook fans by 5 o’clock!

The DO: “I can quickly and effectively reach your goal in every action I take [or recommend], as everything I do is driven and supported by the analytics at hand.”

In other words, not only do I know what your goal is (based on historical site performance data), but I know which specific actions will work (based on site performance data and testing), how to target the actions appropriately (based on behavioral site data) and how long before such actions pay off (based on site performance against set goals).

Show me the measurements, I’ll show you the results. Together we can take the online path of least resistance to reach your business goals.