What works better, gut instinct or logic? While you may catch the occasional CEO swearing that their intestines tell them which ads to run, a vast majority of leaders agree that B2B data-driven marketing is the best option if you’re looking for consistently positive results. Hoards of data to support this (just wait for our next article to check out the cold facts!). However, even the best systems have little bugs to fix. Knowing the solutions to common issues in data-driven marketing can help your good decision become even better. In our latest podcast with Brandon Bateman and Billy Bateman, they discuss 3 big issues data-driven marketers often encounter, and how to solve them!

#1 They Aren’t Tracking Deep Enough Into the Funnel

This one primarily targets B2B marketing. If you are leaving digital marketing conversion tracking to only digital, you’re in trouble. You have to not only take digital into consideration, but off-line conversion could be equally as important.

According to Grasshopper you can track direct mail, different types of phone calls, and even explore other ways that people end up on your site. (Check out this article for more about that, or this 2-minute video put out by Adjust on incrementality)

But what is the real purpose of conversion tracking? You want to know if whatever you’re doing is working right? Wouldn’t it be even better though, to know if exactly what parts of what you’re doing is working? And what is a waste of your money? Maybe the thousands you’re spending on Facebook ads aren’t doing a thing, but your billboard with a promo code is racking in the extra cash. Ditch the ad, and get more billboards- and that is data-driven marketing.

And with digital, you can always go deeper. Brandon recommends GCLID (Google Click ID) to get data straight from Google Ads to Google Analytics- saving you that much more time in your conversion tracking!

#2 Not Focusing on the Incremental Gain of Your Ads

When we learn how to track conversations well, we really care about the incremental gain for the ads we’re putting out. BUT we aren’t the best at tracking this. Brandon recommends using the holdout test (an incrementality test for Facebook ads) to:

1. Take a percentage of your audience that your ad would see. (ie: 10% or 20%)
2. Don’t show ads to these people- only show ads to the remaining 90 or 80%
3. Measure conversion lift.

This can be done at any stage of the funnel, but specifically, once you start trying to track at the bottom of the funnel. “We’ve found that most marketers are overspending on their marketing.” -Brandon Bateman. Sometimes the bottom of the funnel looks GREAT compared to the top of the funnel, but you don’t realize exactly what is going on until you look at it incrementally.

#3 Assuming That if it Wasn’t Measured, it Didn’t Happen

This is a mindset issue that a lot of digital marketers have. Not everything can be measured, but we need to recognize that beyond the measurement, there are things we’re missing out on. Although data-driven marketing has obvious benefits, going overboard in your trust in the stats is probably the most common mistake that is made in businesses.

(Check out this article debunking the saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it“)

Not all important information can be measured, but that doesn’t mean that you should give up on it completely. Glancing over the non-measurable information is like giving your husband or wife the silent treatment- and we all know how that usually turns out.

So what does that mean? We need a mindset shift. Too often we are being BLINDED by data instead of DRIVEN by data. We view the data as the truth- when in reality it is just a really awesome part of the big picture that helps us understand how to market better. This means that the people are still crucial, working alongside the data, to take a step back and look at how everything fits in.

Prioritizing Data-driven Marketing

Data shows that businesses are prioritizing Data-driven marketing and that there are remarkable results. So why aren’t there thousands of million-dollar success stories out there?

Consider these 3 potential problems and some of our proposed solutions. Take a step back and think about what you really have to offer and what you can do to track deeper, focus on incremental gains, and take in unmeasurable data as important too. Understanding those 3 things will help blur the lines between marketing and data in a positive, help your-business, kind of way.