Matching Analytic Skills to Marketing Plans

Why do we analyze?

There seem to be several key questions we should be asking and answering.

1. Why are results different than we expected?
2. What do we expect to happen in the short term?
3. Are there opportunities that would put us on a better trajectory?

Each question requires a different mindset as well as skills to answer.  

The first typically focuses on exploration, discovery and detective work since we have an outcome and need to understand why it occurred.   These analysts have a strong desire to solve a riddle posed by deviations from existing marketing plans.

The second usually means estimating the future by understanding how business changes as a result of past activities.  These analysts want to create order out of chaos and link causes to effects to create a better marketing plan next time.

And the third is the most improvisational of all since it requires imagining a new future and then working backwards.  These analysts focus on the art of the possible and conjure up completely new marketing plans.

A good team will have a mix of these skills.