Week 3- MBA 6101- Marketing Analytics

 What are these numbers telling me?

Growing up, when I heard the term 'marketing', I thought of the AMC drama show, Mad Men. I think of ad campaigns, catchy slogans and cheesy radio or tv commercials. There is a whole other element of marketing that is starting to become just as valuable as the ad itself. marketing analytics. Marketing analytics is the study of data to evaluate the performance of marketing activity. By looking at data, businesses can see what drives consumer behavior, modify marketing campaigns and optimize their return on investment. This can be done by utilizing technology and applying analytical processes. 

The data used for marketing analytics can be pulled from first, second- and third-party data sources. First party data comes from direct consumers, which can be the best information to use because it is unfiltered and direct. If I sold t-shirts through ShirtMania, I would be using data from ShirtMania direct customers.  Second party data comes from other companies in the same industry and their customer base. Another company in the industry is Shirts'R'Us, second party data could come from their customers. Third party data comes from a completely different organization that has no affiliation with the industry, and this information can be sold to ShirtsMania and Shirts'R'Us for marketing purposes. 

When the data is pulled, there are a number of different ways that the data can be analyzed. There are platforms such as Google Analytics and Mail Chimp that can pull out the significant information. This information can be used to make decisions for future marketing campaigns down the road. This information could also be helpful for making short term decisions when it comes to the user experience.