Every small business owner understands the importance of planning. Time is short, you’re wearing multiple hats, and you need to get places fast! A coherent plan is your roadmap to make sure everything you want to happen, happens.
But are you making the most of all your assets to have the best possible plan for your business? What if you could streamline and focus your business strategy using insights that are already at your fingertips?
Data is what you need! Specifically, marketing data.
From customer demographics to campaign performance, marketing analytics offers invaluable insights that can inform your business decisions, increase efficiency, and drive growth. Let’s talk about how you can harness this powerful tool for your business planning.
Why marketing data matters in business strategy
Marketing data isn’t just about optimising ad campaigns or tracking website visits. It’s a goldmine of information that can help you:
- Understand your customers: Gain insights into who they are, what they need, and how they interact with your business.
- Predict trends: Spot opportunities and challenges in your market before they happen.
- Measure success: Identify which strategies and campaigns deliver the best return on investment (ROI).
- Allocate resources effectively: Focus time and money on what works and eliminate what doesn’t.
When used strategically, marketing data is your bedrock to create a business plan grounded in real-world evidence. Using marketing data in your business strategy and planning means that your decisions are as informed as possible.
Key marketing metrics
Not all data is created equal. Here are the essential metrics every small business should track:
1. Customer demographics
Demographics include details like the age, gender, location, and interests of your customers. Understanding this information helps you tailor your offerings and marketing messages to your customers’ preferences.
This data can also be used to guide product development, pricing strategies, and promotional campaigns.
2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Most businesses don’t want their customers to make a single purchase. You want them to love you so much they keep coming back to spend more money on your product or service.
That’s where understanding your Customer Lifetime Value comes in. CLV measures the total revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their relationship with your business.
Understanding CLV helps you to identify your most valuable customers and prioritise strategies to nurture and retain them.
3. Acquisition Cost vs. Retention Cost
Do you understand what it costs you to gain a new customer who has never purchased from you before? Generally this is a great deal more than attracting existing customers back to your store to make a repeat purchase.
Tracking how much it costs to acquire a new customer compared to retaining an existing one ensures your marketing budget is balanced and efficient.
4. Website traffic and conversion rates
Website analytics can reveal a huge amount about your customers and the success of your marketing. What pages are working well? Which pages should be getting traffic but just aren’t? How many people are abandoning carts in your ecommerce pipeline?
Monitoring website activity helps you understand how customers find your business and what prompts them to take action. High bounce rates or low conversions might signal areas for improvement.
5. Email engagement rates
Email remains one of the most cost effective forms of marketing. It’s been somewhat eclipsed by social media in the last decade, but ignore it at your peril. Email marketing is a long way from dead.
When you’re looking at email, metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes reveal how well your email marketing resonates with your audience. Focusing on these insights can help you refine your messaging so that your emails gain more opens, clicks, and sales.
6. Social media engagement
We all love social media, and it’s definitely a great channel to directly engage with your audience. It immediate, and (can be) personal and authentic.
But just like any marketing, if you’re not measuring, why are you investing? Social media metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and follower growth show how effectively you’re engaging your audience on social platforms.
How to use marketing data in business planning
1. Identify your audience
Knowing who your customers are helps you better understand how you can help them with your product or service. Marketing data allows you to create detailed customer profiles, or personas, that represent your target audience. Use this information to:
- Develop tailored products or services.
- Craft marketing messages that resonate.
- Choose the most effective platforms to reach your audience.
2. Set realistic goals
It’s a good idea to look at past campaign performance when you’re setting new marketing goals. Basing your objectives on what’s worked previously (and what hasn’t!) means your goals are achievable and grounded in reality. For example, if last year’s email campaign had a 25% open rate, aim to improve this by 5-10% rather than expecting a dramatic increase.
3. Optimise marketing channels
Look at which channels are working well for you and prioritise them. Use data such as website traffic, email tracking, and social media engagement to pinpoint which marketing channels deliver the best ROI.
If social media outperforms email for engagement but lags in conversions, refine your strategy accordingly.
4. Track seasonal trends
So many businesses have seasonal peaks and troughs. Do you know yours? Analysing your previous years’ data will help you identify seasonal fluctuations in customer behaviour.
This insight helps you allocate resources and time marketing efforts for maximum impact. There’s just no value in promoting your product in July if all your customers are away on holiday.
5. Test and refine
Test, learn, reapeat. That’s simply good marketing. And data-driven planning isn’t static either.
Part of your marketing planning should involve a continuous cycle of testing new ideas and strategies. You can then use your data to refine and optimise. A/B testing for email subject lines or social media ads, for example, can provide quick insights into what works best. Use these insights to plan your next move and tweak your messaging.
Tools to simplify data management
Small businesses often have limited time and resources, but tools like these make managing marketing data more accessible:
- Google Analytics: A free tool for tracking website performance and user behaviour.
- CRM Software: Platforms like HubSpot or Zoho help organise customer data and interactions.
- Email Marketing Platforms: Tools like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign offer in-depth metrics on campaign performance.
- Social Media Analytics: Built-in tools on platforms like Instagram and Facebook provide insights into engagement.
Let data guide your success
Marketing data is more than numbers; it’s the foundation for informed, strategic decision-making.
By understanding your customers, measuring key metrics, and adapting your strategy based on insights, you can build a business plan that’s both flexible and effective.
Daunted by data-driven decisions?
If you’re ready to turn your data into a powerful planning tool but don’t know where to start, Davison & Brain Digital can help.
From deciphering analytics to crafting actionable strategies, we’re here to support your growth.
