Data makes cents: Turning digital metrics into informed business decisions

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of digital marketing data flooding your team's dashboards? Perhaps you don't even know where to start when it comes to data reporting. We'll show you how to transform that sea of numbers into a treasure trove of actionable insights — all without needing a full-time data analyst on your team. Learn how to start making informed business decisions using your data.

This presentation is designed specifically for the do-it-all digital marketer and their team — yet it's packed with fresh ideas for even the most seasoned data nerd. We'll walk you through a step-by-step process to make your data make sense. We begin with the basics: collecting data from various sources, such as GA4, Google Search Console, Google Ads and Slate CRM, and then move on to techniques for normalizing, standardizing and organizing that data.

We will discuss how to use tools like BigQuery and Google Sheets to store your digital marketing data. We'll also cover strategies for pulling data directly from digital marketing platforms — or using intermediary storage solutions — to ensure you have a solid data foundation. Once your data storage is set up, we'll demonstrate how to pull the data into a visualization platform (our go-to is Google Looker Studio, though these principles apply equally well to Google Sheets, Tableau and others). Through a series of real-world screenshots, hands-on code samples and practical demonstrations, we'll show you how to section and filter your data to focus on the business problems that matter most. You'll also discover how to create custom fields and dimensions — both at the data source and within your visualizations — to fine-tune your analyses. Finally, we'll demonstrate how to generate comprehensive reports that inform key business decisions.

Join us as we demystify the technical aspects of digital data. Whether you're looking to optimize marketing spend, boost user engagement or drive strategic business decisions, this session will equip you with the tools and confidence to turn raw metrics into compelling narratives that drive results. Our passion for data has already delivered proven results: we've improved conversion rates on our undergraduate degree pages, reduced the cost per lead from our digital ads by 40% and grown RFIs from our organic search engine optimization strategies by more than 100%. These successes show that with the right process, even the most daunting data can be harnessed to drive real business outcomes.

Unlock the secrets of your digital marketing data and start making business decisions that truly make cents!