This link to a Business Week article in October 2006(Wow, that feels like a long time ago, doesn't it?) states how small business advertising has changed to require more "analytics" in determining the right marketing channel in which to advertise. Yet according to the author Neal Polachek (then Senior Vice President, The Kelsey Group: He is now CEO):
"In recent telephone surveys conducted by The Kelsey Group with small-business owners (with one to 99 employees), however, we found that less than half of small-business owners actually take the time to measure the performance of their advertising."
Now this may sound at first like a "So what?" statement. You may think to yourself, "Hey, since most of my competitors are not measuring their data, why should I?"
This is far from the truth! Businesses succeed when they measure appropriately, then act on the information. That action can lead to more efficient internal processes and insights to additional services and products that can delight customers.
As suggested in the article, analytics is not just about numbers. The analytics applied can be simply taking stock in the customers and vendors to determine how to best leverage the resources available.
