While brainstorming topic ideas related to digital analytics for this blog post, I wondered, “Do people outside the field even know what digital analytics is?” If I attempt to answer that question based on my own experiences talking about digital analytics with various audiences, I come up with three distinct levels of understanding:

1. You Do What Now?: These are people who, when I say I measure the effectiveness of digital marketing, respond with something like, “So you do marketing? That’s cool.” This category encompasses most people outside the marketing industry, including 95% of my friends and acquaintances, many of whom also liken my enigmatic profession to that of Chandler’s from Friends.

2. Ohhhhh, You’re a Geek: This category contains people who pick up on the word ‘analyst,’ and therefore, know I do something with numbers and spreadsheets, but that’s the extent of it—mostly because their eyes glaze over and they intentionally tune out at that point. I would also lump into this category the people who interpret my explanation as, “Ohhhhh, so you count how many hits a web site got?”

3. Better You Than Me: These are the marketing folks we analysts work with on a daily basis. Most have some understanding of what we do (again, numbers and spreadsheets), but don’t want to know the gory details, just that we can provide a data-driven answer to their business question.
With that in mind, I decided this is a good opportunity to give groups 1, 2 and 3 a glimpse into the Excel-loving world of a digital analyst. Finally, you’ll be able to sleep at night.

So What IS Digital Analytics?
In short, digital analytics is the use of metrics to gauge the performance of a company’s digital marketing efforts with the end goal of optimizing those efforts to drive business results. Digital refers to any one of the following channels: web, social media, email, online advertising, mobile, video, and search. Most companies use an array of third party measurement tools to track each channel which results in reams upon reams of data. Enter the digital analyst.

The Top Three Things I’ve Learned As a Digital AnalystI have actually learned slightly more than three things during my five-year tenure, but will stick with the three most resounding themes that encapsulate digital analytics best.

1. Marketers want insights, not reports
Fact: Digital analytics involves lots of quality time with numbers, VLOOKUPs, and pivot tables. If you’re not sure what all those things are, it’s okay, that’s why my colleagues and I are gainfully employed. BUT, if I had to spend most of my day doing nothing but running reports, I would have resigned a long time ago. In my first year as an analyst, I spent the majority of my time as a data jockey, but soon learned that the marketers I supported didn’t want giant, blinding spreadsheets full of tiny numbers. They wanted insights. Hence, the word ‘analyst’ in my title. My job was to look at the giant, blinding spreadsheet and tell the marketers the top two or three things that could be inferred. In fact, sometimes the key learning was that there was no learning. If the data hadn’t changed, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I have found over the years that too many analysts struggle to come up with a story when, sometimes, there just isn’t one.

2. Digital analytics is constantly evolving
In my opinion, this is the most exciting aspect of my profession bar none. Not only is the field of digital analytics a relatively new one, it is always changing. Digital mediums advance on what seems like a daily basis, requiring creativity when it comes to gauging the effectiveness of marketing tactics. Think about the mobile channel, for instance. A couple years ago, few companies even had mobile marketing on their radar. Today, most digital analysts are tasked with determining the best way to measure not just one form of mobile marketing but several: web sites designed specifically for mobile browsers (or WAP sites), mobile-optimized versions of standard web sites, mobile ad units, and apps for various devices (i.e., iPhone, Android, Blackberry).

3. Regardless of industry, companies face similar challenges
My first four years as a digital analyst were spent measuring the digital marketing efforts of two major automotive manufacturers. Only recently did I switch to a completely different industry—hospitality—when I joined Organic. And while I expected to have to relearn my trade to some degree due to industry-specific nuances, I was more so struck by the parallels even despite the drastic difference in digital business models (i.e., you can book a hotel room online but you’re probably not going to buy a car). In fact, it still makes me a little giddy every time I’m able to tie revenue to web site activity. Outside of the ability to attribute a sale, the analytical obstacles for most major companies executing in the digital realm are the same: we struggle with how to align and holistically measure online and offline activities, how to most accurately assign credit to media when a consumer comes in contact with multiple touchpoints, and how to best house, manipulate, and integrate the numerous data sources that allow us to generate insights. Some companies use the term ‘silver bullet,’ others the ‘holy grail,’ but regardless of what you call it, the solutions to these challenges continue to elude most major organizations.

And There You Have It
I can’t help but notice my list of top three learnings also doubles as an essay on why I love my profession. Digital analytics is a field of innovation, creativity and constant learning. My hope is that this article has compelled one or two people who wouldn’t normally venture over to the ‘Strength in Numbers’ channel on the Threeminds blog to do so. If it hasn’t, well, at least I have a nice flyer to pass out at parties and networking events when someone asks me what I do for a living.

Jessica Straka, Manager, Marketing Intelligence, Organic, Inc.