We have access to more data than ever today. Digging through mountains of data and finding actionable nuggets of information is crucial to effective communications planning.
Unfortunately, many people often don’t know where to start. At TSN Communications, we ask ourselves the following questions to determine the data we need and how to present it.
- Who will be using or viewing the data? Your audience is often the biggest factor in determining not only what data should be presented, but its depth. Is it a dashboard presentation for a company executive, an activity summary for a client, or a report for a sales team?
- How will the data be used? Are you using the data to drive decision-making or to gauge the effectiveness of a specific campaign? If using data for decision-making or resource allocation there may be many layers of information that can help prioritize activities. On the flip side, you might only need one metric to show campaign effectiveness.
- How will the data be collected? Are you using an automated system that collects a large amount of information, or are you manually collecting your data? Depending on what you need, there are many great programs available that will make your reporting needs easy. But before investing in an analysis or reporting program, you’ll need to determine whether or not it will meet your needs. Are the reports standardized or can they be customized? Often even the most advanced programs still require some manual effort, at least in the beginning.
Fully considering each of these questions often results in targeted and useful metrics. Still struggling? Give us a call at 877.411.3243 to get started!
Digging through mountains of data and finding actionable nuggets of information is crucial to effective communications planning.
Image credit Greenbookblog.org.
