Is Your Marketing Information Management a Hot Mess? Here’s How to Clean It Up.

Is Your Marketing Information Management a Hot Mess? Here’s How to Clean It Up.

Most businesses these days are data-driven. But what happens when the data you need is scattered all over the place? That’s where marketing information management (MIM) comes in.

MIM helps you gather and organize all of your marketing data, so you can make informed decisions about your business.

But implementing MIM can be tricky. There are a lot of things to consider, and if you’re not careful, you can easily make mistakes that will hamstring your efforts.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the most common implementation mistakes and how to avoid them. We’ll also talk about the importance of data visualization and how it can help you get the most out of your MIM system.

What is Marketing Information Management?

Marketing information management (MIM) is the process of gathering, analyzing, and storing data related to your marketing efforts.

The goal of MIM is to provide marketers with a single source of truth—a central repository for all their marketing data that they can use to inform their decisions.

MIM includes both qualitative and quantitative data, and it can come from a variety of sources, including market research studies, surveys, customer feedback forms, social media monitoring tools, website analytics platforms, and CRM systems.

Why is marketing information management important?

Marketing information management is important because it gives businesses a way to take back control of their marketing research collection and organization.

In the past, businesses would rely on individual departments to manage their own data, which often led to silos and duplication of effort.

MIM provides a centralized system for gathering and storing data so that it can be accessed and used by anyone in the organization—eliminating silos and ensuring that everyone is working from the same set of data.

The Most Important Marketing Data To Track

Now that you understand the basics of marketing information management, let’s talk about some of the specific data points you should track.

Data point #1 – Your customer journey.

In order to create a great customer experience, you need to understand how your customers interact with your brand—from their first interaction all the way through to purchase and beyond.

Tracking customer journey data will help you identify areas where your customers are getting stuck, so you can make changes to improve the experience.

If your customer journey data is spread out across multiple departments and silos, it will be very difficult to get a complete picture of what’s going on. That’s why it’s important to have a centralized MIM system in place.

Data point #2 – Your marketing channels.

In todays multi-channel world, it’s important to track which channels are performing well and which ones are falling flat.

Are you getting a lot of leads from your website? Do you have ads driving traffic to your website?

By tracking marketing channel data, you can get a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not, so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

Attribution can be a challenge when you’re working with multiple marketing channels. But with a MIM system in place, you can see how each channel contributes to the customer journey, so you can give credit where it’s due.

Data point #3 – Your website analytics.

Your website is one of your most important marketing tools, so you need to make sure you’re tracking all the relevant data points. This includes things like page views, time on site, bounce rate, and conversion rate.

Why? Because this data can give you insights into how well your website is performing and what changes you need to make to improve the experience for your visitors.

For example, if you see that your website’s bounce rate is high, that could be an indication that your site is not relevant to your audience or that it’s not easy to use.

Data point #4 – Your social media metrics.

Organic website traffic is great, but social media can also be a powerful marketing tool. That’s why it’s important to track your social media metrics, including things like reach, engagement, and clicks.

Social media data can give you insights into what kind of content your audience is interested in, which can help you create more targeted and effective content.

Data point #5 – Your email marketing metrics.

First off, if you aren’t emailing your list regularly, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. But even if you are emailing your list, you need to know which emails are effective.

How do you do this? By tracking email marketing metrics like open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate.

Email data can give you insights into what kind of content your audience wants to see, which can help you create more targeted and effective emails.

Data point #6 – Your marketing ROI.

Last but not least, you need to track your marketing ROI. This is the most important metric of all, because it tells you whether or not your marketing efforts are actually paying off.

ROI stands for return on investment, and there are a number of different ways to calculate it.

Essentially, you need to know how much you are spending on marketing and how much revenue it’s generating. If your ROI is positive, that means your marketing efforts are paying off.

If your ROI is negative, that means you’re losing money on your marketing efforts and you need to make some changes.

Most ad platforms have ways to track ROI, but if you’re not using one of those platforms, there are other ways to calculate it.

Common Implementation Mistakes & How to Overcome Them

Now that you know some of the key data points to track with MIM, let’s discuss some of the most common implementation mistakes and how to avoid them.

Mistake 1. Not Defining Your Goals

Before you start tracking data, you need to know what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts. Otherwise, you won’t be able to measure your success.

Sit down with your team and define your marketing goals. Once you have a clear understanding of what you’re trying to achieve, you can start tracking the right data points.

Mistake 2. Not Collecting All the Data

It’s important to collect data from all your marketing channels, not just a few. Otherwise, you won’t get a complete picture of your marketing efforts.

It’s silly to think that you can just track a few data points and get an accurate picture of your marketing. For example, if you’re only tracking website traffic, you won’t be able to see how your social media campaigns are performing.

The reality is that you need to collect data from all your channels in order to get an accurate picture.

Mistake 3. Not Organizing Your Data

Once you start collecting data, it’s important to organize it in a way that makes sense. Otherwise, you won’t be able to make sense of it.

There are a number of different ways to organize your data, but one of the simplest is to create a spreadsheet with all your data points. This will help you keep track of your data and make it easy to find what you’re looking for.

Mistake 4. Not Visualizing Your Data

Data is meaningless if you can’t understand it. That’s why it’s important to visualize your data in a way that makes sense. Plus, when communicating to shareholders, the Board or other key decision-makers, data visualization is often essential.

One of the best ways to do this is to create charts and graphs. This will help you see patterns and trends in your data, which will be helpful when making decisions about your marketing efforts.

With a simple google search, you can find templates for just about any type of chart or graph.

Mistake 5. Not Making Data-Driven Decisions

Once you have your data organized and visualized, it’s important to start making decisions based on it. Otherwise, your marketing efforts will be ineffective.

For example, if you see that your website traffic is increasing but your conversion rate is staying the same, you might need to make some changes to your website.

On the other hand, if you see that your social media campaigns are generating a lot of leads, you might want to invest more in social media marketing. The key is to let your data guide your decisions so you can make the most effective marketing choices.

6 Tips to implement your marketing information management strategy

Now that you know the importance of MIM and how to avoid common mistakes, let’s discuss how to implement an effective MIM strategy.

TIP # 1. Get everyone on board with using the same system.

If you want your MIM system to be effective, you need to get everyone on board with using it. This means training your team on how to use the system and making sure everyone is using it consistently.

Luckily, there are a number of different MIM software options available, so you should be able to find one that fits your needs.

Especially since remote work has become the new norm, it’s important to have a system in place that everyone can access from anywhere.

TIP # 2. Automate as much as possible.

The more you can automate your MIM system, the better. This will help you save time and ensure that your data is always accurate.

There are a number of different ways to automate your MIM system, but one of the simplest is to use a tool like Zapier. Zapier can help you automatically collect data from all your marketing channels and send it to a central location, like a Google Sheet.

TIP # 3. Use data visualization tools.

As we mentioned earlier, data visualization is one of the most important aspects of MIM. In fact, it’s safe to say that data visualization for marketing is essential for making data-driven decisions.

There are a number of different data visualization tools available, but one of the simplest to use is Google Data Studio. With Data Studio, you can easily create beautiful charts and graphs that will help you understand your data.

Data visualization is important for a number of reasons. First, it helps you understand your data. Second, it helps you communicate your findings to others. And third, it can help you make better decisions about your marketing efforts.

TIP # 4. Make sure your data is organized and easy to find.

If your data is hard to find, you won’t be able to use it effectively. That’s why it’s important to keep it organized in a way that makes sense.

Just imagine if you had to sift through a pile of papers every time you wanted to find a specific piece of data. Not only would it be time-consuming, but it would also be frustrating.

Instead, keep your data organized in a way that makes it easy to find what you’re looking for. One way to do this is to create a spreadsheet with all your data points. This will help you keep track of your data and make it easy to find what you’re looking for.

Pro-tip: If you use something like Google sheets, there’s a search feature that makes it even easier to find what you’re looking for.

TIP # 5. Make data-driven decisions.

Once you have your data organized and visualized, it’s important to start making decisions based on it. Otherwise, your marketing efforts will be ineffective.

For example, if you see that your website traffic is increasing but your conversion rate is staying the same, you might need to make some changes to your offer.

Because MIM gives you a bird’s eye view of all your marketing channels, you can make decisions that are based on data rather than gut feeling.

TIP # 6. Review your MIM system regularly to make sure it’s still effective.

Your MIM system won’t be effective forever.

You need to review it regularly to make sure it’s still meeting your needs. This means making changes as necessary and keeping everyone on board with using the system.

There are several signs that your MIM system is no longer effective, including:

• You’re not seeing the results you want from your marketing efforts.
• Your data is inaccurate or out of date.
• Your team is struggling to use the system.
• You’re not making data-driven decisions.

If you see any of these signs, it’s time to make some changes to your MIM system.

What are the unique challenges when gathering marketing information management?

There are a few unique challenges when gathering marketing information management, including:

• Ensuring data accuracy and consistency: With so much data coming from so many different sources, it can be difficult to ensure that it’s all accurate and consistent. This is why it’s important to have a data governance system in place.
• Managing data storage and access: With so much data being collected, you need to have a plan for how it’s all going to be stored and who is going to have access to it. This is where a MIM platform can come in handy.
• Making sense of it all: With so much data, it can be difficult to know where to even begin. This is where data visualization comes in—it can help you make sense of all the data and identify patterns and trends.