It’s Monday, so we’re starting it off with a strategic thought! And this is something that bothers me just about every week, so when I saw the story, I had to do a post on it. It’s about using analytics to show value with our communications campaigns.
I read a story on HubSpot today about “6 Analytical Skills Marketers Need and How to Improve Them”. I’ve put a link to the post so you can read it yourself. But they dive into the difference between analytical skills and creative ability, and finding the right mixture of the two.
They even call out that in “today’s workforce, nearly one in four workers have a job in which analytical skills are considered the most important factor.”
The biggest problem in the strategic communications field is that, if I was guessing, not nearly one in four workers consider analytical skills to be vital. We’re much more concerned about all things creative. Coming up with the next great idea, finding a good story pitch, creating an engaging blog, or any one of a thousand creative executions.
And while all of those creative things are necessary, it’s vital that we start using the analytical side of our brains. We have to tap into those analytics so we can show the value of the work we’re doing.
Using Analytics To Show Value
If it’s web activity, we need to understand key web analytics to show how we’re driving business. For audience engagement, we need to know how to track that engagement all the way through the customer journey. If it’s earned media, we have to show how that engagement is driving revenue. We do that through analyzing the activity and connecting the dots for the clients and brands we represent.
Just about every aspect of strategic communications and public relations can, and should, have an analytical component to it. Many of those components may be more straightforward than others, but it’s up to us to connect those dots. And we do that through the analytics and show the value of these efforts beyond vanity metrics like viewership, likes, and shares.
We need to talk dollars and cents, brand equity, and other metrics that are meaningful to the brand and business.
More Strategic Thoughts
Here are some recent posts to help as you create your Strategic Communications campaigns, including the importance of having a strategic communications plan:
– Do I Really Need A Strategic Communications Plan?
– Tips For Managing Unethical Communications Requests
– A Meaningful Message, Or Pandering Without Purpose
– Pitching Media Like The Pros
– Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of Effective
– Wake Up. Kick Ass. Repeat.
– How to Create Content That Engages Audiences and Builds Brand Trust Quickly
