Google Analytics for Marketing
When small businesses are initially getting started, one of the most important things that they need to determine is what kind of marketing strategy will work best for them. There are multiple methods available to businesses today, including direct mail, digital marketing and print. All of these methods have pros and cons; however, as the internet solidifies itself as one of the most effective marketing tools available to any organisation, it’s important to understand how to effectively utilise it.
One of the biggest benefits of marketing online is how easy it is to track how effective digital marketing techniques are. Platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Ads and Twitter have built-in analytics tools that allow businesses to analyse their outreach on those sites. Also, thanks to the simplicity of Google Analytics, it is easy to understand who is looking at your site, what they are looking at and how they arrived there.
Naturally, marketing offline can be equally as effective but it’s more difficult to track just how effective it is, thanks to Google Analytics, businesses are also able to track how well these methods work.
Below we discuss how you can effectively use Google Analytics to track all of your marketing, both online and offline.
Why Should You Use Google Analytics?
One of the most attractive reasons that seem to appeal to people is that it’s free. Secondly, and more prevalently, Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful tool that when correctly utilised allows you to keep track of the key information you need regarding your businesses marketing. This allows you to fully comprehend what works and what doesn’t, which will be vital information moving forward.
Because of the program’s ability to work with other sites such as Google Ads, Search Console, Google+ and YouTube, it gives you a full insight as to how these platforms are working for your business, without having to worry about doing complicated tech work. That being said, utilising Google Analytics to its full extent can be time-consuming and understanding how to process all the data available on it can be tough. For these reasons, many businesses now are opting to use Global Performance Marketing Agencies to get full use out of Google Analytics.
There is also security that comes with using Google Analytics. The site is here to stay, unlike some online tools whose lifespan can be unpredictable as they go out of business sporadically. It’s guaranteed that Google is going to be around for a long time and so getting a hang of how to use it for effective marketing will benefit your business both short and long term.
How To Set Up Google Analytics Correctly
You must take meticulous steps to correctly set up your Google Analytics account. Here are the essential things you need to do.
Add Code to Every Page on Your Website
Once you visit the Google Analytics site and create an account, you’ll be given some code. You need to copy this code onto every page of your website, otherwise, you’ll only receive analytic data for specific pages rather than all of them.
Set Up Goals
There is a difference between driving traffic and driving sales. Just because people are visiting your website does not mean that it’s necessarily beneficial for your business. If you set up Goals, these will help you keep track of what the traffic coming to your site is actually doing and more specifically, how many conversions you’re getting.
Use a URL Builder to Track Marketing Campaigns
Google Analytics will naturally track a lot of your marketing campaigns anyway, although this isn’t 100% accurate unless you use a specific URL that tells Google where your traffic is coming from. By using Google’s URL builder, it is easy to track this.
Utilise Ecommerce Tracking
If you are an ecommerce website and want to keep track of your sales, this tool will ensure that any sales generated on your site will appear in Google Analytics. This is easy to set up by following some simple instructions.
How To Track Offline Campaigns Using Google Analytics?
Though the internet is used for a number of different marketing tactics, that doesn’t mean that other options aren’t available. These include the likes of marketing using print, radio, TV and direct mail. Google Analytics can be an effective tool to ensure that these other marketing methods are also helping your business.
This can be quite a complex process and one that a lot of organisations contact professional performance marketing agencies for; however, below is a brief overview as to how it works.
Firstly, whatever your marketing campaign, be it a radio ad, TV ad or print, would contain a call to action. This call to action would provide a specific URL for prospective customers to visit. The URL provided should be a simple one, normally just the name of your business, as it makes it easy for customers to remember and search.
Secondly, using a URL builder, you should set up a domain forwarding the tracks the URL mentioned in your offline ad generator. Google analytics would then track exactly how many people visit your site by searching the specific URL mentioned in your ad. You can set up different URLs for TV, print and radio ads, which will allow you to gauge exactly which offline marketing method works most effectively.
Which Google Analytics Reports Should You Use?
Once you have successfully set up all the proper tracking methods, your Google Analytics Data will be provided in a number of different reports. You should make a habit of reviewing your Google Analytics reports and analysing the data provided. Some good tips to get started when analysing reports are:
Get A High Level Over of Marketing
The most efficient way to do this will be to review your top marketing channels by traffic generated. The Channels Report in Google will be able to help with this. Running this is simple as you just go to Acquisitions > All Traffic > Channels.
Use Channel Specific Graphs
When you generate a report for a specific channel, you’ll be able to see the trends of that channel over time. This allows you to determine what is working and what you need to improve on.
Run the channel report previously mentioned and then click on specific channels. Following this you have the option to compare different metrics.
Generate Reports for Top Landing Pages
Running this report is very important as it will allow you to improve the pages on your website that get visited by the most traffic. To run it, go to Behaviour > Site Content > Landing Pages. After this, click on “Add Segment” and choose the marketing channels that you would like to review reports on.
In Summary
Having an understanding of how Google Analytics can be used for marketing is crucial when it comes to setting up your business and ensuring its growth. The above is a helpful guide; however, if you would like more information, then do not hesitate to contact us at YouYaa and we would be happy to help.
