Yo, you ever have someone ask you a question, and it's a great freaking question, and it makes you think so much while you're trying to answer it, that you don't really give your best answer?

I mean, your answer is okay, but it doesn't really help them as much as you know you could have

During a recent webinar, I conducted a full Q and A session on how to use data to drive web design and digital marketing, and broke down the top answers here.

But one question really excited me. One of the 200+ Marketing Directors, VPs of Marketing / CMOs on the call asked "How do I communicate my web data, and the importance of it, to my upper management?"

This got me so excited. There's so much bullshit floating around in upper management. Much of it is ego-driven. People who have higher titles than others, and think that they know more about web design and development than those actually qualified within their organizations to be driving the process.

I empathize with Marketing Directors. Anyone thinks they can do marketing, but marketing directors who use data are like ninjas that can't be touched.

So, while you can view my answer on the webinar below, it's really only a 7 out of 10. The 10 out of 10 answer is here:

Be proactive. Don't wait for meetings where you'll be asked to defend yourself. Instead of using the data to justify, use your data to lead the discussions.

Don't be an advocate for any particular user experience, design, or marketing channel. Be an advocate for what is true, and be an advocate for what is ACTUALLY WORKING BEST for your business.

You can learn these techniques, and how to use Google Analytics for 30 Minutes a Month to lead this discussion, but the important point to be made here is to actually be proactive about carving out the time.

Let me help you with a template. 🙂

Dear CEO (or whatever the fXck your title is),
I'd really love to get 5 to 15 minutes of your time each month so I can review with you the top five points of data from our website. These will be learnings that will drive future actions for our company's marketing.

This data comes from Google Analytics, a free tool that I have had our web team install on our website.

It gives insights on who our web audience is, how and where they view our website, how they find our website, and what they do when they get there.

We use this data to drive our actions and I want to keep you in the loop on it.

Please let me know when we can schedule 5 to 15 minutes per month ongoing together.

Thank you!

Sally, VP of Marketing

Look - even if you're a Marketing Manager and your boss is Sally, and she won't do this, you should anyway. Seriously.

• Be Proactive.
• Be Insightful.
• Don't Use The Data To Justify.
• Focus On What Action Items You'll Take Based On The Data.
• Each Meeting, Recap What You Did Last Month Based On The Data, and What The Results Have Been.

That's my real answer. My first one, while on the spot, is below and goes nicely with this one, but is not as good. 🙂

Thanks for reading, watching and listening, and have a great day!

KEEP MARKETING!

Paul Hickey, Founder / CEO / Lead Strategist at Data Driven Design, LLC has created and grown businesses via digital strategy and internet marketing for more than 10 years. His sweet spot is using analytics to design and build websites and grow the audience and revenue of businesses via SEO/Blogging, Google Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook and Instagram Ads, Social Media Content Marketing and Email Marketing. The part that he’s most passionate about is quantifying next marketing actions based on real data.