So your business is using or implementing marketing analytics, but you can’t seem to get it to ‘work’. You may have bought an expensive dashboard program, hired some incredibly smart analysts, and started collecting mountains of data. Yet none of these can be successful without the most integral part: MEANING.

All successful marketing analytics programs have three common elements:

• Strategy
• Analytics
• Meaning

Strategy comes from your idea department, whether that’s your creative team, your marketing managers, or (and hopefully) a combination of the two. No marketing program can be successful without relevant ideas that engage the customer.

Analytics is the department mentioned in the opening paragraph, ie the team of analysts, the cool new reporting platforms, and the mounds of data that is created from marketing strategies and tactics.

Meaning is the most difficult to find, as this element has to be provided by a team that understands the complicated analysis, can interpret data into business needs, and can suggest next steps and potential impact. Without meaning, the time and money you’re investing in analytics can be, well … meaningless.

In order to get meaning from your strategy and analytics, look for a person or team that has both the expertise in the field of marketing, coupled with a deep understanding of data and analytics. Only then will your marketing analytics truly be successful.