Top 3 tips for data analysis
Kristina: Are marketers doing a good enough job of using data to their advantage?
Josh Knauer, CEO, Rhiza: Not yet. Some marketers are beginning to understand the value of looking at data strategically. They’re starting to try, but it’s a difficult process. They face challenges. Data is often fragmented, hard to understand and, in many cases, not produced and presented in a way that can help drive decisions. There are so many roadblocks and it makes marketers think, “Let somebody else crunch the numbers and tell me who my target demographics should be.” That’s a lazy way for a marketer to think. And it needs to change.
Kristina: What are your top 3 tips to help marketers better sift the data they have?
Josh: 1. before diving in, clearly define the types of questions you want to ask of the data. Know what you want to you are looking for, what you’re trying to understand or what you’re trying to prove.
2. bring various data sets together and compare and contrast them. The more consumer information you have, the better. Look for intersections and patterns and soon a storyline will likely jump out at you. You may notice an untapped market or a growing trend. It can open the floodgates to entirely new revenue streams.
3. move beyond data spreadsheets. Staring at a spreadsheet will likely make you fall asleep at your desk before it gives you any great insights. Visualize your data with heat maps, charts and graphs. You’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to deduce and process valuable information from an image than it is from text.
