{"id":9083,"date":"2016-04-06T16:15:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T23:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/?p=9083"},"modified":"2020-07-30T13:02:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T12:02:14","slug":"the-power-of-data-informed-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/the-power-of-data-informed-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"The power of data-informed marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marketers know instinctively their work impacts the bottom line (traffic spikes, growing signups), but they don\u2019t always know which work is making the most impact.<\/p>\n

Before joining Intercom I worked in startup finance \u2013 think operating plans, fundraising, SaaS metrics, board reporting. I constantly asked the marketing team to prove their work was leading to profit. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t think they were adding value, but someone had to report to the board. Now, as a product marketing manager, the tables have turned. I\u2019m still in the demanding world of startups, where every minute and dollar counts, but I\u2019m forced to face my own questions.<\/p>\n

No matter how good a product is, a company needs to cut through the noise to reach the masses and convince them to become customers. The work I do now, much of it creative, isn\u2019t so easy to measure as counting pull requests, deals won, or days to month-end close \u2013 but it\u2019s just as important. So, to make the best use of time and money (old habits really do die hard), before I go into any task or project, I ask: what will the impact be? And more importantly: how will I prove it?<\/em><\/p>\n

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Nuance matters. Correctly defining your desired outcome will clarify how you design and execute your project.<\/p>\n

For a landing page, is your goal to help people understand the product offering or to get them to sign up? If the former, you might be tempted to \u201cfeature dump\u201d and tell them every single little thing the product is capable of. However, if you optimize for signups, you will design your landing page to quickly communicate the problem the product solves and offer a clear call to action.<\/p>\n

For a feature announcement, is your goal to get views, likes, or installs? Of course, lots of views would be nice, but that doesn\u2019t mean you should spam your entire contact list. Likes are nice too, but catchy copy and pretty pictures don\u2019t necessarily convert. Rather, your goal should be to optimize for feature adoption, and every element of your campaign should be created through that lens. Be sure your announcement is targeted<\/a> to users who can actually use what you are announcing.<\/p>\n

Say I\u2019m introducing a new integration available on Support Standard<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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We\u2019ve all heard \u201cwhat gets measured, gets improved\u201d. If you don\u2019t find a way to quantitatively measure your work, you will keep spinning your tires.<\/p>\n

These are tactics we employ at Intercom:<\/p>\n