Crawl, Walk, Run: How to Incorporate an Analytics Framework at Your Pace

Good data is nothing if it exists in a vacuum. With the right data analytics framework, however, marketing teams can easily turn their business goals into actionable steps. Rise aims for marketing to be seen as a performance driver, not a cost center. Incorporating an analytics framework allows you to do just that. 

Data integrations on any scale can feel like an overwhelming endeavor, but it doesn’t have to be as intimidating as it might sound. Not sure where to start? Consider the "crawl, walk, run" approach to incorporating analytics. 

Before we get into the details below, check out this conversation between Rise’s Ashmita Chatterjee and Google’s Ming Chan on how starting small can still be incredibly impactful, even if the larger picture seems intimidating. 

The “crawl, walk, run” approach allows you to establish your framework at the capacity that makes the most sense for you, while gradually improving your analytics capabilities over time. This will build a system to collect and analyze data, then apply insights from that data to inform your marketing strategy and improve outcomes. No matter the speed you choose, you can take incremental steps along the way to get there. 

Crawl

The “crawl” phase allows brands to start small and lay the foundation for an analytics framework. By establishing a baseline, brands can gain insights into their current performance and identify areas for improvement. 

Simply put, just get started. Rome wasn't built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour. Some bricks to consider in this phase:

• Effective customer relationship management (CRM): Ensuring that you have the right CRM data and that the hygiene of that data is foolproof is an extremely valuable building block for future data decision making and integrations. 
• Define key performance indicators (KPIs): Determine the KPIs that align with your marketing objectives and use them to track your progress. These could include site traffic, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs, among others. By aligning analytics efforts with business objectives, brands can focus on the data that truly matters.
• Incorporate A/B testing: While “walking”, implement controlled experiments to test different marketing strategies or creative variations. A/B testing can help identify what is (and isn’t) working. You can test different elements such as copy, landing pages, and targeting to compare performance and determine which iteration has the biggest impact with your customers. 

Rise offers, Connex®, our cross-channel media optimization platform, to help track and gather those KPIs, test results, and improvement insights, all in one place. 

Walk

The “walk” phase involves more advanced analysis and capabilities. By delving into more granular data, brands gain a deeper understanding of their audience and can tailor their strategies accordingly. 

Take it up a notch in this phase and gain deeper insights into your customers and campaign performance with advanced techniques and analytical methods. For example, brands can explore segmentation analysis to understand different customer groups and their behaviors to deliver tailored messaging throughout the sales funnel. By delving into more granular data, brands gain a deeper understanding of their audience and can tailor their strategies accordingly. 

Activating on the below chart by using your holistic audience data is a perfect walk phase example. Digital marketing will be a cookieless world soon enough. We made this comprehensive summary of how to accomplish different objectives in a world without third-party cookies so that brands can still reach their target consumers across channels.

Finally, invest in skill development and training for yourself and your team during this phase to ensure everyone can utilize your new framework foundation and interpret the data in an effective way. This will enable you to find trends, patterns, and correlations to gain insight into your marketing efforts and inform your strategies going forward.

Run

Once you have a sophisticated approach to analytics, you can take off running. In this phase, your analytical framework is a well-oiled machine that enables every decision to be data-driven. This stage involves the implementation of sophisticated analytics frameworks and the use of predictive modeling and advanced data visualization techniques. The goal is to use better data to drive decisions. 

For example, if you combine your additional data signals with value-based bidding (leveraging powerful technology provided by Google), you can align your paid media with how your customers are valued throughout the sales funnel — which leads to a far more accurate picture of your sales, and what customers are comprising those sales. Brands need to ensure that campaigns are optimized to the brand’s business data at every stage of the customer journey. 

Additionally, leveraging Advanced Analytics utilizes predictive modeling and machine learning algorithms to forecast future outcomes, such as customer lifetime value, churn rates, or revenue projections. 

This enables proactive decision-making on more targeted marketing strategies and where to spend your next dollar.

Repeat

It's important to note that the “crawl, walk, run” approach is not a linear progression. It also requires ongoing effort and attention. Regularly monitor KPIs, stay updated with industry trends, conduct A/B testing, and analyze performance metrics to uncover areas of improvement. By fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making, brands can remain agile and adapt their strategies to ever-changing market dynamics.

As you continue to gain insights and your business and marketing strategies evolve, you’ll want to revisit previous phases to refine and improve your framework. This ensures ongoing campaign optimization and maximized ROI. 

Do More with Your Data with Rise Interactive

The right data and analytics framework has the power to help boost performance, profitability, and progress. Still not sure what frameworks will best suit your business? Need help getting started? Facing challenges and need some supportive expertise? Rise can guide you through the process and ensure your framework is working for you. Contact us today!