Digital Marketing Analytics: Making Sense of Consumer Data in a Digital World (Que Biz-Tech) 2nd Edition

The majority of executives devote at least 2 nights a week to business reading. I personally find it a constant struggle to find the time. Between everyday work and personal projects it's always a balance of priorities. We are always searching for nuggets of inspiration, quips we can slide into a PowerPoint deck or gems of knowledge we can place in our back pocket for future use. I have been anticipating this book for quite some time because the subject matter is a particular passion of mine. I pre-ordered on January 2, 2013. Anticipation can be cruel - especially with movies. You can build up expectations or hopes and leave two hours later either fulfilled or full of regret. Luckily, this book delivers - and I'm waiting for a sequel.There are two certainties with digital and social business: the digital landscape changes faster than any business can adopt the opportunities and there are no experts. Because of these, many books on the subject matter pick and choose tactics or focus on smaller views of the entire digital landscape. Even more disappointing are the selection of offerings on the market today by people who have little to no actual experience executing digital programs. This book is a breath of fresh air because the authors have experience executing the subject matter across the broad landscape and they make the complicated subject matter accessible to all levels.With the different roles we have in my Fortune 500 business, it's difficult to master all areas of analytics. The beginning chapters lay the groundwork for understanding the definitions and the tools and by the end, everyone will have something to take away. Whether you are new to measurement, just getting started in digital or social or you are the insights expert for your company you will find great takeaways sprinkled throughout.The book is set up as a journey through the digital landscape. If you are new to digital analytics do not jump ahead. Read the book in the order it was written. If you have more experience you will be tempted to skim or skip some of the early chapters that discuss tools or the basics. I would urge you to stick it out. There are quite a few notes and key points that are embedded within each chapter that will update you on things you may not know have changed or give you something to consider in the future. While some exceptionally advanced topics or tools are not included in this book, the inclusion of those topics would detract from the accessibility of the subject matter and the journey.The last chapter starts out:In this book, we have armed you with everything you need to know about digital analytics to make your communications programs better and your business smarter.It's true. This journey that Chuck and Ken have crafted ends with a discussion on the future of digital data and business intelligence. No matter where you business is along this point, there is value to the information they have included. If I could pick one book to jump-start my own digital programs across the enterprise, this is the book every marketer, communicator, public relations specialist, digital analyst should read. In fact, I took copious notes to include in this review but my copy kept disappearing and ultimately walked off my desk at work. The fact I had to buy a second digital copy is probably the best testament to the exceptional journey contained in Digital Marketing Analytics.

It's embarrassing how long it took me to write this review as this book has already become my go to guide for analytics related questions that I have in my day to day. Even as a social analytics professional I found this book to be so useful and comprehensive in the knowledge it provides. Whether you are a beginner to the field of analytics or a season pro this book is a must read.As others have noted - books like this are tough to write as the industry moves so fast that many tools or strategies are often outdated weeks or months after they are written about. Not the case in this book. The guidance that Chuck and Ken give will be useful for years to come as it is rooted in the idea that the metrics may vary but the practice of measurement is what is really important.Chuck and Ken have armed me with the knowledge to walk confidently into meetings and speak about everything from social, website, search and mobile analytics and why each is important to measure. Most importantly they give the guidance on not only how and why to measure these things but how to tie them back to business metrics that execs really care about (and that doesn't necessarily mean revenue or sales!!).I have recommended this book to every marketer and social media professional in my organization. This is not just a book for measurement professionals - but anyone who wants to become better at our jobs and glean insights from all the data that is available to us.

I'm in the business so I like to read this type of book to see what others say about the social media world, digital marketing analytics, how the worlds of customer relationship management (CRM), social media and big data meet, and how to make sense of all of these.This book provides a very good grounding if you are new to this area, and some new thinking and insights if you are already playing here.If nothing else, to have summaries of the main players from the hundreds of tools, applications and solutions available for analysing the digital world, is useful.

I found this book very useful as an overview of the entire digital landscape as well as examining each specific tool, without going too deep into details. The book also talks about reports, tactics and insights of putting resources together to come up with a solution. It covers how to go about reports for different level of an organization and working with other resources within the organization to make a happen in the quickest way. I use it to confirm my own approaches managing resources and using appropriate tools. I keep it on my desk for a reference.

The authors make an effort to discuss the digital marketing analytics landscape, from inception to present day. In addition, they make efforts to provide insights in analyzing a select sets of tools, before getting into the art and science of digital data management and analysis. I found the order in which they explain things a bit clunky, taking you in too many different directions for the first 8 chapters. I also found that their technology recommendations are based on short formed opinions are not well found and are also stale, as big data, MCCM and DMPs have grown significantly since this book was published. If you are looking for the opinions of some seasoned marketing professionals, there are some interesting chapters here in what they are doing with data.

Like many marketing scientists, I'm doing my best to keep pace with the explosion of innovation in recent years. This book is an excellent overview of Digital Marketing Analytics, which is still very new and rapidly evolving. The book is wide-ranging without being superficial. Many sources are provided for those who want to have a closer look at the new tools available or who want to explore specific topics in depth. Don't let "analytics" turn you off; this is a non-technical and very readable book, and I highly recommend it to other marketers and marketing researchers.