My 1st Month in Marketing

As someone who is fresh-faced and just starting out in the marketing industry, it can be quite daunting.

However, I had the opportunity to attend one of Webstars’ Roundtable events - a monthly gathering of professionals in the industry talking about trending and/ or pressing topics.

This is where I got to expand the breadth of my knowledge regarding two topics, in particular, namely Google Analytics 4 and Account Based Marketing.

Google Analytics 4

Now, I feel that I should put a disclaimer here and make it clear that I have very limited experience with Google Analytics to begin with as it was not a tool I had to use before starting in my new role. However, hearing about the pains others are facing and features they are excited about was really interesting.

Google Analytics 4 seems to be a new start for Google when it comes to website analytics as it has rebuilt it from scratch. However, one swift look at social media platforms, and one can tell that the majority of marketers are unhappy with the sweeping changes it has brought about. The biggest one is in regards to how it tracks data. In Universal Analytics, data like page views, clicks, events, transactions, etc. were grouped together and tracked as separate sessions. But GA4 has done away with nuanced tracking and each of these interactions has been lumped under (and confusingly called) events - which is different from the events in UA. Furthermore, another big change is in the way GA4 handles views. It is now called data streams but from what I understand, it is much more restrictive and limited in scope compared to its predecessor, our Digital Marketing Manager Beatrice goes into more detail in her blog here.

And this seems to be a running theme with GA4. Google has attempted to simplify the metrics available to marketers but in doing so, they have taken away the data we have been collecting and relying on for years now. And this is where it falls apart - the fact there is no option to at the very least toggle a switch to have access to more in-depth nuanced data seems like an oversight but one that Google can hopefully change before GA4 goes live for everyone and UA is phased out - fingers crossed!

Account Based Marketing

This is an interesting topic to me as this was a marketing strategy that I was not very familiar with before joining Webstars. It is not something that they teach us in school or even at University so it was something that was really fun to learn about. And when you actually stop to think about it, it really does make a lot of sense. 

As a marketer, our goal is to sell our offerings to the right customer in the right way be it in B2C or B2B markets. And while the traditional model works wonders for the B2C market scape there are definitely better ways to approach the B2B market. This is where Account Based Marketing comes in. While it might take a lot of time and effort to set up compared to the traditional approach, it allows one to target particular companies based on in-depth forensic research. It allows marketers to personalize their communication strategy to targets the organization wants to work with which not only leads to higher quality marketing but eventually allows for a much-improved return on marketing investment which is what drives all of us. 

Something else that I took away from the roundtable discussion is that personalization is key to successful ABM tactics. This is something that is ingrained into us as marketing students however we do not realize just how important it can be - at least I did not. However, reading case studies, listening to examples, putting it into practice myself at work, and seeing the payoff is a very rewarding experience. And this brings me to my final point. 

Data Is Like Oil

This might be the biggest takeaway from my first month working at Webstars, and something that I am reminded of quite often by Beatrice since she learned it at MAD//Fest 22 herself. While we are always looking to collect vast amounts of data, that basically counts for nothing if we don't cherry-pick that which we actually need and refine it down to something that is usable and relevant for what we are trying to achieve and work towards.

I have definitely been guilty of collecting too much data and then getting overwhelmed by it all as I do not know what to do with it, not an ideal situation to be in. This is where data hygiene comes into play - it is important to cleanse and review the data we collect to make sure it is valuable.

In Conclusion...

If like me you are starting out in the industry and want to learn more about Account Based Marketing or some other marketing tips and tricks, why not browse our other blogs?