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Organizations increasingly sift through huge amounts of customer data and marketing analytics to inform critical business decisions. Not everyone can look at data and make sense of it, let alone draw insights from it. Marketing analysts are uniquely positioned to excel in this arena because their expertise spans disciplines like data analysis, strategy, marketing, and project management.
More organizations are looking to marketing analysts to help them understand what their data means and how it can be used to meet business goals. Marketing analyst positions are expected to grow by 19% by 2031 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, much more than the average 5% job growth rate.
As a marketing analyst on the Strategy and Data team at Response Labs, I see firsthand the immediate value someone in this role can bring. I’ve found three critical skills you need to be an effective marketing analyst.
Skill One: Interdisciplinary thinking
One of the most unique aspects of being a marketing analyst (and the most fun in my opinion) is the way this work spans multiple disciplines. Yes, it’s a bit obvious in the name that a marketing analyst needs to understand marketing principles and concepts and be able to analyze data.
But having someone in that role who thinks across both worlds doesn’t always come naturally to every team. You might have a very savvy marketer who doesn’t have the confidence to analyze large amounts of data. Or you may have a data analyst who is well versed in programming languages but isn’t exposed to marketing best practices.
A marketing analyst who understands both worlds can come up with more innovative solutions because they leverage both perspectives. For example, a client recently asked us to compare the click-to-order rates of two similar email campaigns so we could identify a “winner.” Although one campaign had a higher rate than the other, the emails in that campaign were missing key best practices of email design. When I reviewed the designs in both campaigns, I noticed that the promotional offers in each campaign were different, meaning that we couldn’t say for sure if the emails were driving conversions, or if one offer was better than the other. So, instead of recommending the campaign with the higher click-to-order rate as the “winner,” we suggested an extended test period to continue digging into this.
Skill Two: Data storytelling
As access to data becomes the norm, and anyone can whip up a bar chart in Excel or Google sheets, more and more industries are using and viewing data. But pulling together some tables or graphs alone is not enough to drive meaningful change or innovation.
At Response Labs, we know this is a key trait our clients admire and need from us; they can already access their data, so we know the value we bring comes from how we think about and use that data.
Increasingly, organizations realize that data storytelling puts insights into context helping drive more meaningful action. Combining data with visuals and narrative, marketing analysts are uniquely positioned to present a compelling story of what the data means and how it can be used to inform decision-making.
However, we also recognize that this is a very valuable skill for anyone to have in our increasingly data-informed world. I recently led a lunch and learn session for everyone at Response Labs that broke down what data storytelling is, why it matters, and how we can all improve our data storytelling abilities. After all, we recognize that the value we bring to our clients is not just equivalent to our ability to download or visualize data. In fact, what our clients often find most meaningful is the insights we draw from their data, which are inherently unique to our team. We couldn’t get there without the ability to understand and tell the story of a client’s data.
Skill Three: Curiosity
This skill is really the key to unlocking the prior two skills. To become a strong data storyteller and an interdisciplinary thinker, you must also be curious enough to explore new data sources, marketing campaigns, and other topics. Curiosity is a skill that employers are increasingly looking for in all roles, but it is an essential (and often intuitive) part of being a marketing analyst.
There’s inherent courage in curiosity. Not everyone has a deep desire to dive into the (often complex) interconnections between marketing and data—and to keep diving deeper to uncover true insights. Often, marketing analysts ask difficult questions, speaking up even when the answers might be unpopular. But for marketing analysts, curiosity fuels them to press forward. Driven by curiosity, marketing analysts ask lots of questions. Not only drive new projects and innovations but also refine and enhance existing ones. They ask important but often neglected questions at key moments of a project to clarify direction and goals. A few of my favorites that our Data and Strategy team often uses include:
- How will we measure success?
- Does the data reflect what we know about the customer experience/qualitative information? Why or why not?
- Is there a way we could test this/inform a theory with data?
- Are we asking the right question?
The Ultimate Skill: Strategic Thinking
Really, this skill should have been number one. A marketing analyst must think strategically. Otherwise, the other three skills listed above don’t produce impactful insights and results.
It’s one thing to be curious and let that fuel you to ask lots of questions or dig into data. But what happens when you find something unclear, overwhelming, or different than you anticipated? This is where a strategic mindset can set exceptional marketing analysts apart from their peers. Being able to think strategically helps marketing analysts utilize their skills to drive meaningful change.
A strategic mindset helps someone see through the clutter to identify patterns, trends, opportunities, and paths forward. When someone with a strategic mindset is faced with roadblocks like “that data doesn’t exist,” or “this platform doesn’t measure that metric,” they can identify an alternative method that others may not see.
For example, one of our clients asked us to compare two versions of the same email campaign and identify which one was the best in terms of driving revenue. However, we couldn’t directly attribute the emails to specific orders or conversions because of how the campaign was built.
To get some sense (albeit an imperfect one) of how these campaigns compared, we calculated the percentage of people who clicked each email in both campaigns and made an order at some point after clicking (a click-to-order rate). This allowed us to compare how each email in each campaign potentially drove orders and revenue, ultimately identifying one campaign that in total generated more revenue than the other.
Final Thoughts
As a Marketing Analyst at Response Labs, I have the pleasure of answering critical questions for our clients and identifying new opportunities. I’ve often found that having an outside perspective from someone who doesn’t live and breathe the client’s work allows me to bring unique value to our clients’ work. Applying learnings from many disciplines, skill sets, and other client experiences helps me provide thoughtful and innovative recommendations to our clients.
No two days look the same, and I often navigate uncharted data or marketing territory. But for me (and I think most of my colleagues), that keeps things fun.
About Response Labs
Response Labs is a customer relationship management (CRM) and loyalty marketing agency. Our team of innovative digital marketing experts delivers data-informed, personalized messaging at scale to increase engagement and fuel revenue growth. We don’t shy away from the complex intersection of data science, media, technology, and creativity. In fact, that’s where we thrive. We help brands find opportunities to connect with customers meaningfully. Our purpose is to Make Every Message Matter™.
