Even expert storytellers can fail to extract a coherent narrative from thousands of raw survey responses. A content marketer's most crucial partner in an original research project is a data analyst who can dig into the numbers, identify statistically significant findings, and surface the stories hidden in the data.
Related Insights
Instead of brainstorming subjectively and then seeking data to support a favorite idea, start with audience insights. Analyzing what content people already engage with defines the creative sandbox, leading to more effective campaigns from the outset and avoiding resource-draining failures.
Previously, data analysis required deep proficiency in tools like Excel. Now, AI platforms handle the technical manipulation, making the ability to ask insightful business questions—not technical skill—the most valuable asset for generating insights.
Brand and communications teams can bridge their data skills gap by using AI. By uploading performance reports to tools like ChatGPT, they can ask for analysis, identify trends, and learn to think like data-driven marketers, boosting their confidence and strategic input.
The most valuable consumer insights are not in analytics dashboards, but in the raw, qualitative feedback within social media comments. Winning brands invest in teams whose sole job is to read and interpret this chatter, providing a competitive advantage that quantitative data alone cannot deliver.
Most media companies operate on creative instinct. A more effective model is to treat content and audience growth like a financial portfolio, obsessing over data to predict outcomes and drive decisions. This brings quantitative discipline to a traditionally qualitative field.
Marketers need complex, multi-point dashboards to make informed decisions. However, presenting this raw data to the C-suite causes confusion. The marketing team's job is to diagnose the complex data internally and then present a simplified, narrative-driven report to leadership that justifies strategy and investment.
A single, in-depth original research report is a foundational pillar, not a one-off campaign. By consistently referencing its data and quotes in blog posts, social media, and podcasts, a single report can fuel the vast majority of a content team's output for 9-12 months, maximizing its ROI.
While a performance dashboard is important, a data-driven culture bakes analytics into every step of the marketing system. Data should inform foundational decisions like defining the ideal client profile and core messaging, not just measure the results of campaigns.
Don't accept generic reports filled with vanity metrics like web traffic. A valuable marketing partner translates data into business insights, explaining what the numbers mean for your actual leads, conversions, and revenue, and how they will adjust strategy accordingly.
Former General Mills CMO Mark Attucks mentored his team to balance analytical rigor with creative intuition. He advised against feeling pressure to be the "smartest person with the best spreadsheet," emphasizing that telling stories that make people feel is equally critical to marketing success.
