In this quickly changing world of digital marketing, it can often be confusing for a business owner to measure and understand what marketing tactics are working and what aren’t. One of the common complaints I hear when talking with business owners is to understand where to spend their marketing dollars. It seems like every networking event you attend or conference you go to tells you about some new digital marketing tactic and how it has completely transformed a company and made them successful. This video went viral or a social media campaign brought in hundreds of new clients. You don’t know which things to try, and worse yet, many don’t really even have a definitive way to tell if what they are currently doing is working. Sure, they ask the person that answers the phones to ask where the new customer heard about you, but even that isn’t always tracked properly.
In steps Google Analytics, a free tool that has a lot of functionality that many aren’t even aware of, to at least track what is happening on your website, and where that traffic is coming from. Yes, Google Analytics can be confusing. I am in it nearly every day, and even I get frustrated with how often Google moves things around or changes the name of important pieces, but once you understand it and harness it to work for you, it gives you extremely powerful information that can help make the difference between successful decisions and hunches.
Google Analytics Tells You Where Your Customers Come From
When you get right down to it, Google Analytics tells you where your customers come from, and can tell you which ones actually bought what you are selling. Whether you are selling something directly online or trying to get people to call or sign up for your newsletter, it can be tracked with Google Analytics. It just takes a little work with someone who knows the tool and can teach you what you need to know. When you can tie specific traffic or campaigns to actions on your website, you can actually tell what is working and what isn’t. Was it your Facebook ad campaign that just got that latest call or was it someone who found you searching on Google? Analytics tells you this and you can then tie your sales back to your spend. This can tell you which strategies are working the best to bring in business. Need to track phone calls? You can do that too with some additional tools that can be built right into analytics. I know many professional services and medical clients struggle with this all of the time. Our customers don’t remember where they found us online, just that they did. If it is tied to call tracking, you can see exactly where it came from. You may be surprised at what is really working and what isn’t.
Google Analytics: Set it and Forget It
One of the toughest things for business owners is going back and figuring out how to dig down to those three or four key pieces of information that they want to see every month or quarter. We can come in and help you set up dashboards and reporting so that you get that report each month with the key information, without even having to go in and try to dig around and find it. Once you get a dashboard set up for your business, you can have it sent to you automatically as often as you like. I highly recommend you DIY’ers take a few hours and learn analytics, and if you don’t want to do it, it is pretty affordable to have someone like myself sit down with you and go through your needs to set up the right reporting to help you make the right decisions for your business. That is what is is all about.
If you are interested in learning more about how to put Google Analytics to work for your business, please give us a call.
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