How Marketing Analytics Saved My Job
In this introductory post, I will tell you a bit about myself and my passion for marketing analytics. I started out in technology with an engineering degree from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, then went on to get a Master’s degree in electrical engineering at USC while working at companies developing complex mechanical and electrical systems. At one point, I consulted for NASA. Yes, I was in fact a rocket scientist! But I wanted more. I wanted more of a way to express my creative side, so I earned my MBA (also from USC) with an emphasis in technical marketing and became a product manager. In my new role, I was inspired to find a way to leverage my technical background toward marketing decision making. This was several years ago, when marketing analytics was in its embryonic stage.
My focus with marketing analytics was to show CEOs and other executives how marketing adds value. This is stuff I wish they would have taught me in grad school. I used my creativity to develop a succinct, half-page report that quantified the tasks marketing accomplished each week to directly contribute to growing revenue. The reports were well-received. In one instance, a CEO told me it was one of the most valuable reports he received from a marketing department.
Marketing analytics helped me become a valued asset to my company, which was especially important in an economic climate where many people across the industry were being let go because they were not showing why marketing mattered.
In the weeks to come, I will be sharing with you some of my lessons learned—what worked, what didn’t. With marketing analytics, I will show you how to:
- Get to the core of the problem
- Get buy-in on your approach
- Get others to see the impact of your actions
Marketing analytics can make you a hero (and help you keep your job!).
Stephan Sorger
Marketing Made Measurable
