How to make better marketing decisions by working backwards

How to make better marketing decisions by working backwards
He looked at one too many pivot tables today.

Tired of having all the data in the world and no idea how to use it? You are not alone. There are thousands of marketers trying everything to understand their data: pivot tables, some new analytics tool, praying Product Hunt provides an answer, printing it out.

At the end of the day, you just want your data to tell you what to do next. That will never happen until your data starts working for you. And unless you do something about it, that day will NEVER come.

Like learn how to work backwards. With your outcomes already defined. Check this out...

Ask yourself one question: What decision do I need to make? Write down the answer. There may be more than one.

Do not make a decision. Define what you need to decide. For example, you may need to decide with market segments you won't target next quarter.

With that outcome in mind, you can suck up data that lets you make your decision. Now you make progress instead of staring at another Google Sheet until your eyeballs dry out. In this example, your data tells you which segments are worth going after. And which ones aren't.

Take it another step. Create the report your data feeds into. Now you know the data you need and the format you need it in.

If you do those two things -- write down the decisions you have to make and build the report your data goes into -- you will be the envy of all marketers stuck in spreadsheet misery.

Peter Preston

Peter Preston

I'm a Saas marketing manager at ThinkTilt, makers of ProForma for Jira. I'm also the founder of Dear Video, a recovering podcast host, and learning how to grown a brand on YouTube.
Brisbane, QLD