I hope you’re reading Mark Howe’s blog on Media Week!
It’s great that Google have allowed someone so senior and, dare I say, so colourful to jot down their thoughts on online marketing.
In his first few salvos, Mark has concentrated on the importance of data being freely available to help marketers make better decisions about how they spend their cash, and what return they might expect.
While tools and transparency have been around for quite a while – all three major search engines and a plethora of 3rd parties provide all sorts of insight that is easily obtainable – the fact remains that the data is dull, dull, dull unless we make actionable sense of it in some way.
How many times have you been in a meeting and been subjected to Excel Graph and PowerPoint Hell with oodles of numbers and arrows showing you exactly nothing except the door?
Well before Microsoft Office gets blamed for the monotony we have all endured, let’s take a look at ourselves and ask if we’re presenting the information in the right way?
Are we telling a story?
I was taught many years ago that the way you deliver numbers is with well chosen words.
Presenting an easily-to-follow narrative to a bunch of numbers is crucial to making the insight come alive, and will give people around the table a better picture of the state of the business or campaign you are reporting on.
If the numbers are not going in the right direction, what does that mean for the campaign or your business and what are your suggestions for reversing the trend?
Remember to base those suggestions on data to back them up!
If you’re embarking on a new campaign and want to convey your strategy, include all the numbers you like but back them up with visuals.
Be creative with your goals!
“Filling Wembley Stadium” is a much better psychological aim than “75k new leads by year end”!
By adding something to the mix that everyone in the room can relate to, you retain focus and make the process fun at the same time.
Does it all end happily ever after?
Always try and have a happy ending and try to avoid what I call the “So What Factor”!
You’ve done all the research, you’ve pulled all the reports and thrown them in to a spreadsheet – will whoever’s listening/reading be comfortable with the results? Have you bulleted out the highlights, lowlights and actions? Is the data relevant to the goals you have set out to achieve?
There’s nothing worse than getting to the end of presentation or report as part of the audience and feeling it’s been a waste of your time.
Time is precious. Data is precious.
Spending time on the right data and making it relevant is golden!
