What are the most important things to do to stay current in Marketing Analytics?

In my experience, the most valuable skill in marketing analytics has been the ability to adapt. As a leader, I've steered my team through the adoption of new software and methodologies - it’s like learning a new language to better understand our audience. In a number of engagements, by integrating Python for data manipulation and SAS for machine learning into our workflow, we could dive deeper into consumer behaviour trends than ever before. Lifelong learning, beyond just formal education, keeps one at the forefront. Tools may change, but the mindset of embracing change remains crucial.

Stay in the trenches. Be hands-on with the analytics tools and platforms available to you. - Regularly practice to understand new features and functionalities - Set up analytics projects or dashboards - Examine sample datasets - Enroll in online courses and tutorials - Experiment with different tools - Explore open-source projects - Participate/attend analytics-focused hackathons and competitions - Document your analytics journey - Contribute to articles like these :)

You can always learn through hands-on projects. Work on real problems, analyze actual data and implement what you have learned in practical scenarios. This hands-on experience is invaluable for reinforcing your skills. In my own practice, I take pet projects where I help build not only the marketing strategy but also the analytics system. This helps me explore new business areas and systematize the work of different teams based on a data-driven approach. To find pet projects, connect with professionals in different business areas. Attend industry conferences, webinars and networking events. Building a professional network can provide potential opportunities.

Remaining current in Marketing Analytics is essential for effective tool and strategy utilization. Key actions include continuous learning, staying informed about trends, and gaining hands-on experience. Networking, experimenting with tools, and honing data visualization skills are crucial. A curious mindset and cross-functional collaboration contribute to ongoing improvement, while joining professional associations and utilizing online platforms provide value. Reading case studies, participating in workshops, and webinars offer practical insights. Consistently adopting these practices ensures marketing professionals maintain a competitive edge in utilizing data for strategic decision-making in the dynamic field of Marketing Analytics.

To stay current , marketing analytics heads need to create an environment around them where information on industry benchmarks, Novel plays and core practices along with emerging practices all flow to them. Chose the platform based on the way you learn - visual, audio or immersive, and set up connections with vendors, ad platform owners, publications , marketing intel & benchmarking platforms so that you are able to keep up and stay ahead of the industry!

Take advantage of online communities, blogs, and resources—they're abundant. Use an RSS reader to subscribe to their updates. Dedicate 15-20 minutes each morning to skim through the feeds to keep current on the latest trends, technologies, strategies, and more. There are plenty of experts out there breaking down everything and sharing their experiences for free.

Three super simple ways: 1. Google Trends A great way to see what people are searching for on Google. You can look at certain keywords to see patterns related to where and when they’ve been most searched, and set alerts to be notified of updates. 2. Google Alerts These will send you notifications when interesting new content appears for certain keywords. Plug in the keywords you want to track, and you’ll get alerts about new search results. 3. Twitter hashtags While not strictly what we might call alerts, Twitter hashtags can serve a similar function to something like Google Trends. Since they provide an organic way for users to categorize content, you can simply look up a certain hashtag to see all the newest information on a topic.

X and LinkedIn is a good place to start. Don't be afraid to start talking with other professionals; comment, message, and share content. News outlets and blogs are helpful, but a community of those actively engaged in marketing will give you a real pulse of trends.

Google Alerts! Subscribe to quality newsletters, listen to industry-specific podcasts, read relevant books, and follow people doing big things in the said industry on all of their channels.

Follow at least 7 rabbits into the deepest analytics holes on linkedIn. But don't forget to get out of them all and try the things you learned from their awesome stories in real life situations, if it fits. Don't just listen, hear or read but try to do it.

Data exists everywhere. In my honest opinion, every data source is important as it helps to tell part of a story. The best way to stay super relevant and super valuable is to constantly test every possible data, gather every possible insight, and tally them with other data sources for validation. Don't forget to look at the past data (I like to look at one year of data) to get an idea of what works better. Keep in mind that nothing is guaranteed, and thus, the need for constant testing of methods of collecting data, ideas to relate to consumers better, and hypotheses of what is happening.

It is important to test data and tools and validate results based on domain knowledge. Tools and data are available everywhere, code can be generated but these are useful only if they serve business needs and if results can be validated intuitively.

Move beyond simple A/B testing and explore multivariate testing. This is an advanced experimentation technique in marketing analytics that allows you to gain insights into how different combinations of elements affect overall performance. To achieve unbiased results, use a randomization algorithm to play out the different combinations to your target audience. This will eliminate any inherent bias that might arise if specific combinations are shown to specific segments. Multivariate testing provides a powerful way to understand the complex interactions between different elements in your marketing campaigns, allowing for more sophisticated optimization and strategic decision-making.

A/B testing and innovation are significant drivers in staying relevant and successful in marketing analytics. Testing on multiple channels as consumer behavior shifts is also just as important.

I like to emphasize that experimentation should never be done merely for the sake of it. From my experience, the quality focused on well-defined objectives and hypotheses creates deeper insights. Avoiding vanity metrics is equally vital – we should measure what truly matters to our business goals. Rigorous methodology is the backbone of effective experimentation. Sometimes it's not about the metric, it's about the way you're comparing the results. Last, but not least, I recommend considering the long-term impact. Short-term gains can sometimes lead to long-term losses. Therefore, it's imperative to analyze results over time to assess the sustainability and true impact of our marketing strategies.

I've found that the absolute BEST way to stay relevant is to join relevant groups and follow smart people in your space. Often times a brilliant peer will sniff out a change in a software or a new trend long before any news surrounding the change arrises.

You can share your analytical knowledge with a team, e.g. with the sales or content department. We conducted a general business training session where it became clear that related departments do not always understand the structure of marketing analytics. To make such training more visible, create a metrics tree and assign departments areas of influence on key metrics. Visualizing analytics reports can also help you make decisions as a team. If you don't have your own specialist for these tasks, you can always fall back on available tools such as Looker Studio. In my practice, this not only helps the entire team to understand the common goals within the collaboration, but also to validate their own progress in the analytics system.

I just got back from the HighLevel conference in Dallas, TX last month and there was some amazing networking and discussions that are helping me stay ahead of the curve in automation, AI, and digital marketing. Highly recommend going to events, taking notes, and then taking immediate action.

Joining specialized forums and groups on Reddit Twitter or Linkedin (among other amazing platforms) is crucial to provide opportunities to exchange information, attend industry events, and participate in knowledge-sharing forums, ensuring that you remain up-to-date in this dynamic field. Also connecting with professionals in different sectors can provide fresh insights and inspiration. You can learn from others' successes and challenges, adapting and applying their strategies to your own marketing analytics efforts.

In addition to takin courses to upskill yourself, you need to identify a few people to follow that you know are experts with Analytics. Perhaps you might not be in an environment that gives you a lot of opportunities to test and experiment, these individuals will be your guide. They are able to try and test new tools which, then you can use their findings as a foundation to keep you up to date. The greatest benefit of following people who are experts is that you have an opportunity to communicate with them directly, and therefore be able to ask questions and recommendations that will help you with your journey.

Just as a dedicated athlete tracks workouts and nutrition to reach peak performance, a savvy digital marketer must monitor key metrics and strategies for optimal results. The world of digital marketing, much like fitness, requires discipline, adaptability, and a keen eye on progress. 1. Set clear goals 2. Monitor 3. Analyze 4. Adapt 5. Select the right tools

You need to know your reports from start to finish. Reports will provide rich insight in terms of what is it that people are interested in, and therefore where you need to focus your efforts. It is very easy to focus on production without checking whether the content is effective or not.

Set your target, and arrange periodical dialogues with same stakeholders with different background and levels to monitor their responses and comments on your activities. After recording the dialogues, you may pick up key points that you need to improve or revise. That is the shortest way to be better and the best.

Follow top voices in analytics. They normally are the first with insights. Learn from them. Keep up to date. Ask them questions. In general, don't be afraid to ask questions! Nobody knows everything. You acquire knowledge by being curious.