Marketing Planning Survival Guide Part I: Google Analytics

Planning your digital marketing strategy can seem a lot like being dropped in the Amazon and fending for yourself. What’s the best kind of trap for snaring the critters I plan on eating? How can I make it to the river without getting hugged to death by an anaconda? And how do I avoid contracting tegumentary leishmaniasis? Fear not, fellow adventurer—may we suggest taking with you Part I of our Marketing Planning Survival Guide.

Survival Step #1: Start Small

Instead of going to the Amazon, consider journeying to your local nature preserve. The Amazon will throw everything at you, but the most you’ll have to contend with at the protected area near your house is an off-leash Labrador leaving bombs on the footpath. In other words, rather than diving right into blogging, social engagement, link building, content creation, and everything else, take a step back and strategize. This is where Google Analytics comes in.

Once you set up Google Analytics, you can get a sense for where you should allocate your marketing resources—are you getting oodles of referrals from social channels, but hardly any conversions from those visitors? Do certain kinds of content generate better engagement than others? Are most of your customers coming to your site on a mobile device? Setting up Google Analytics lets you safely start exploring the jungles of digital marketing.

Survival Step #2: Set Up Analytics Right

It’s crucial to understand what you want to track. Nail down the objectives for your website: Are you trying to rebrand? Promote a new product? Reclaim some lost market share? Generate leads? Once you set some firm objectives, you can decide on the key performance indicators that will let you best track how well those objectives are being met.

For a rebranding effort, then, track traffic coming in for your old brand and for your new one. For a new product campaign, look at landing page data and funnel activity. Whatever you want to measure, make sure your metrics make sense given your objectives, and that you segment your data in meaningful ways.

Survival Step #3: Test and Refine

You’re not going to get it exactly right the first time out, and that’s okay. But tracking your KPIs will allow you to build meaningful reports, which will allow you (and your team) to see where you have deficiencies and make adjustments accordingly. It takes a little time, but the ones who survive are the ones who adapt.

Need help setting up and refining your Google Analytics? Call us to talk about what you’re looking to do with your site.