Compared to marketing platform dashboards where you need to analyze each response, the traditional methods of creating spreadsheets are more comfortable.
Although spreadsheets can be outdated at present, it offers a clear-cut view of ‘what’ is ‘where’ at first glance. Since we are more used to it, it’s easy to read too.
We work hard, but digital marketers need to be smarter too. Dashboards tend to be overrated for Generation X and Y (the millennials). Although the technology has advanced, a few spreadsheets can still go a long way when compared to a dashboard for them.
What it does is
- Helps us collaborate efficiently
- Track budgets and core metrics
- See growth clearly
- Organize the digital experimentations
- And get more work done.
How spreadsheets help businesses
For digital marketing, spreadsheets provide an overview of all the activities and track the future.
Whether it be assessing reports, gathering raw data, budget calculations, forecasting, or reviewing marketing KPIs, spreadsheets can handle all of the data and even simplify it for you.
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4 ways Spreadsheets can help digital marketers
Information Modeling
One of the main purposes of a spreadsheet is to store data that is potentially useful to businesses. Numerical values are stored here, which can be calculated and updated if linked to data gathering sources automatically.
Analyze and Manipulate
Spreadsheet apps enable the user to analyze the data with custom formulas that suit the business needs. Sorting, filtering, conditional processing, validation, comparisons, etc are some of the functions for analyzing.
Graphical Visualization
Graphs and figures speak volumes more than the rows and columns in a spreadsheet. Select from where you need the data and you have a visualized content of what you are looking for.
Data-driven Decisions
The ability to find what a marketer is looking for from the ‘n’ set of data in a spreadsheet gives the edge in the decision making process. If the gathered data is accurate, the spreadsheet can help the marketer to make data-driven decisions.
How spreadsheets boost productivity
Build the right spreadsheet and it will boost productivity automatically. Knowing the right components is the key.
Boost your productivity with these four must-include spreadsheets.
Digital Marketing Framework & Scorecard
Your digital marketing framework sheet assimilates your efforts when you start a fresh campaign. Even if the target audience is fresh, seasoned veterans, or accounts, this sheet keeps tabs of what has been done, where it is applied, and when it is executed. You can denote the lead journey and different stages they are at.
The target audience can be scored easily based on their response to each campaign, enabling you to select, deselect, or modify marketing strategies accordingly.
Audit Ad Keywords
Importance: Track and audit ad keywords; identify performance and update
Optimizing keywords for paid campaigns can be troublesome in some aspects if you don’t have the overall view of it. This can directly affect ROAS.
Spreadsheets can directly link to your analytics platforms like Google Analytics, SAP Analytics Cloud, Microsoft Power BI Desktop, or Sigma. Utilize conditional formatting to learn the key performance of keywords at a glance.
Influencer Tracking
Importance: Keep track of social media influencers that help your digital marketing
Social media networks boost the target audience at present. Influencers are part of any digital marketing campaigns here, apart from your own efforts. Gather information related to the influencers like engagement rates, likes, shares, views, clicks, etc. This process will help you understand your audience better.
UTM Tracker
Importance: Track where your traffic and business come from
A UTM code is like the GPS tracker for your website or campaign content that is published online. It keeps track of who viewed your website, the number of visitors, lead interactions, actions taken, etc.
The UTM tracker helps you keep tabs of all the websites or links you’ve put up. The data gathered can be used to review performance, allocate ad budgets, or change marketing tactics.
Getting a birds eye view of what goes where and what can be done to improve business is a constant concern. Although modern digital marketing platforms have dashboards to visualize this, a bit of old school spreadsheet cannot go wrong either.
