Marketers, Prepare Yourselves!
We all love answers.
If our boss asks us a question, we feel really good if we have one.
If we are doing the question-posing, a satisfaction itch should be scratched at least a little bit, even if the answer wasn’t exactly what we wanted. (For example – Q. Can we just order pizza tonight for dinner? A. No. We are having broccoli and salmon. [JUST KIDDING])
The Questions that Marketers Need Answers To
If you are in the marketing world, you must be prepared to answer a lot of questions.
However, questions involving data may be tougher to answer than others.
Think for a moment about your own situation. If management or the sales staff asked you these questions today, could you answer them? And, how long would it take to actually produce the results?
- How many people are on the current customer list? Can I see it?
- Do we have a list of previous or dormant customers?
- Where are the prospects and new leads from Trade Show [InsertNameHere]?
- In our pipeline, how many people are from this industry? Or that industry?
The questions involving the actual data will certainly lead to additional questions. If you have the records, the next questions may be:
- Do we need invest more time and money attracting attention among a certain vertical?
- Have we reached out to our dormant customers lately?
- What has been done to follow-up on the leads from the trade show that we spend tens of thousands of dollars on to attend?
Are You Sweating Yet?
If you are involved with marketing, those questions may possibly be causing a few beads of sweat to appear on your forehead. You may even be visualizing (or having a flashback of) your boss demanding answers to those questions recently.
If you are in the position where you cannot produce the answers easily, or the data, then here’s a solution.
The Solution
Build, manage, execute, and measure your marketing initiatives across multiple channels, and make sure to collect data from those channels for your marketing database. Segment your data across specific fields and demographics, and then view your reports to see how each segment is faring. This allows you to slide and dice data, view the big picture of the campaign, and then make the next marketing effort even better!
