I have been in the digital analytics industry for 3-4 years now and only joined the DAA last year. The NYC Symposium was my first DAA event, as I work in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – which does not necessarily scream digital analytics culture. So needless to say, I was very excited and nervous to attend this symposium and glad to finally be among other analysts. (I work in a team of 3 at a larger strategic, creative agency; where sometimes our work is referred to as magic.)
Perhaps the most important takeaway that I learned from this symposium was that at the core, we all have the same issues of time, resources and data, regardless of industry or size. At an agency, I constantly feel the pressure to deliver results within tight time frames and limited resources, but it was very enlightening and reassuring to know that the pinch is felt everywhere across industries/business types. The speakers at the NYC Symposium had four common themes throughout their speeches on how to counteract those pressures.
- Collaborate early with all stakeholders and figure out what incentivizes them.
- Get executive buy-in on core KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and cut through the data noise. Find out what is relevant to the stakeholders and business and everything else is secondary.
- Document methodologies and caveats, automate where possible and share results.
- Communicate in the stakeholder’s language not yours. Joe Miscavige, Director of Analytics at PBS, gave a great example of this with passing of tracking documentation to development teams. He explained that without understanding development team’s perceptions and own team structure, the chances of tracking not being implemented properly or understood is extremely high.
This boils down to being pro-active instead of re-active with your job and within your company. I was pleasantly surprised by the importance placed on soft or interpersonal skills over hard skills, throughout all the presentations. I have noticed that distinction within my own job as well. That the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively across verticals or silos is what will lead to efficient and effective results – also less headaches over time.
However, this does not solve the main problem that was consistent across all the presentations - the data itself. Particularly, the collection, integration and communication of the data.
Keiko Sutton, Senior Director – Business Intelligence and Analytics at AOL, mentioned that “5-10 years ago, the industry only had one tool to worry about, now we need to be good at multiple platforms and able to cut through the noise. There are good stories if we are able to dig deep enough.” This was evident throughout the presentations whether its digital analytics or cross-channel, as Theresa Locklear, VP of Analytics Audience – Science Group at Viacom, said that the only "common metric at this moment is minutes" for cross-channel measurement. Theresa did walk through other methodologies in the works to provide a more complete view of cross-channel strategies and measurement; however, those methodologies are heavily dependent upon industry adoption, which has its own challenges of extensive implementation and a high cost to enter.
I will say one of the best and most helpful things about the symposium was the Birds of a Feather session, where everyone broke up into smaller groups to discuss centralized topics ranging from content measurement to data integration to organizational structures. Being able to communicate and discuss these topics openly with peers who were also experiencing the same challenges, was reassuring that I was not losing my own mind trying to figure it out with my own clients.
This part of the day was the most useful and eye opening for me, especially since I am a digital analyst in the middle of Pennsylvania where I am relatively isolated from the rest of the industry. It is reassuring and comforting to know that the challenges that I face with analytics are felt elsewhere throughout the industry. It made me wish that the Birds of a Feather session could be applied virtually beyond forums, on a more ongoing basis.
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