Analytics: The Importance for Small Businesses

Many people don’t want to deal with analytics, marketers for small businesses in particular. There are a couple reasons for this:

1. They only run metrics when asked--once a quarter or even once a year. This creates a situation where the damage has been done and the campaign is beyond repair.

​2. They don't know what to do when the metrics aren't good. Running metrics regularly is a great idea, unless you don't know how to turn negative metrics around quickly. Knowing how to successfully adjust strategy comes from experience.

At Smart PR Communications, we run core client-customized reports every week and drill down on metrics in those reports with additional reports if warranted. There are some reports, such as Key Term Tracking that we run every week; others that we run monthly (more frequently if needed) such as a Site Audit; and others that we run per the client’s request, such as tracking a specific competitor.

We also pass those reports onto clients and discuss them at weekly status meetings.

This points to the main reason that some people don’t appreciate analytics even when their marketing department runs them at frequent and regular intervals: Marketing just sends them the reports with no explanation. So, recipients don’t really know what they are looking at or what the statistics mean. It’s the job of marketing to, not only run analytics regularly, but back the reports up with a narrative—i.e., the most likely reason for an increase in Impressions and a decrease in Click Thrus.

At any rate, we always know how we are doing, and more importantly, the client knows how we (and they) are doing. Running these reports often uncovers an issue that, once we know about it, can be resolved quickly. Having these metrics also allows us to pivot expeditiously if something isn’t working and double down on what is working.

So, marketing plans are great, but without high level metrics run at frequent intervals, they quickly become irrelevant.

For a no cost discussion of your situation and how we can leverage metrics-based marketing to grow your business call 630-363-8081 or email jeanna@smartprcommunications.com. Find out more about Marketing Services for Technology Companies.