When you find yourself not on track, it can be frustrating – leading you to resort to different methods in order to reverse this trajectory that has no bearing on the result. It could simply be that you’re looking in the wrong place; instead of acting before thinking, perhaps the right data and information can inform your next move in a much more powerful way.
This information is everywhere, however, and takes many different forms. In order to know exactly what you need, running your eyes over different types of data can help you to come to the right conclusion.
Secondary Market Research
When you (and many others) think of market research, you might think of the type that you conduct yourself – the type that leaves you with results that directly pertain to your business. Undoubtedly, this is valuable, and that kind of precision can be enormously beneficial. However, it can also be expensive and time-consuming, which might make secondary market research an option that you view just as favorably. Reading articles, publications, and statistics on the current shape of the market and industry can be just as informative as what you might have conducted yourself.
Performance Data
That’s not to say that data pertaining directly to your brand isn’t useful – quite the contrary. In fact, if you can analyze data that informs you of the performance of your marketing, sales or technologies, you have an invaluable insight into your next move. What you might not be aware of is just how many areas of your business this kind of analysis can be applied to – applying API analytics tools to the APIs present on your website or app, for example, can let you know just how well they’re performing and how you can subtly tweak them to increase engagement on these platforms.
Current Trends
When you think of data, you might divide it in half – the data that pertains to your business internally and the data which informs you of the external world. The current trends and preferences of audiences is perhaps as external as it gets in this regard. It doesn’t take much imagination to think of why this is valuable, and it could let you know if your marketing methods or approaches for engagement are out of data, and what might be a better approach. Though it is worth being aware of the risks of chasing trends.
Social Media
Social media very much comes under the banner of marketing for businesses, but the way that you look at the information you receive from it might be somewhat different. With so many different social media platforms to consider, understanding which audiences can be best found where and how the modes of engagement vary on these platforms can be very informative. For example, text-based posts might be do better on some platforms, while others could rely almost solely on video content, meaning your video marketing might need to be improved to stand a chance.
