By Michele Stilwell, Director of Marketing and Accounting at MEDiAHEAD

In a world of technology, digital marketing is one of the most effective ways for most companies to increase conversion rates. But when we put something out onto the web, we really need to understand if it’s effectively reaching our target market, bringing them to our web site and increasing sales.

This is where Google Analytics comes in handy.

Google Analytics helps you understand how your web site or blog is performing and it gives you valuable information such as:

• Where the people are located?
• How many people visited your blog or website?
• Which pages are getting the most visits?
• What are their demographics?
• How do you enhance your sites speed?
• What channels are leading them to your site?
• How many visits resulted in conversions?

There is no doubt this information can be useful for any business. We use it at MEDiAHEAD. On a regular basis, we monitor Google Analytics to see the most popular pages visited on our website. And since we began blogging, we look at how much traffic each story is getting on a monthly basis. It’s amazing how detailed you can get… you can see mobile versus PC/Mac usage, what browser they are using and so much more.

It’s such an important tool, helping you to track the effectiveness of your online campaign so you may continue with strategies that are working and modify the ones that need improvement.

If you haven’t already, make sure you have a Google Analytics tracking code installed on your website!

If you’ve never installed Google Analytics tracking code on your website, you’re missing out on all the things people do when they go to your website! Even if you don’t understand Google Analytics yet, the first step is to get your tracking code installed so you can start capturing this important information. If you aren’t technical, be sure to talk to the company that developed your website to get started. (They should have already installed Google Analytics, you just might not know about it.)

Google Analytics offers a quick tool or has an eBook for you to download. Or you can  use Google Analytics for Busy People which provides an easy way for you to get this tool working for you, so that your company can effectively achieve its goals.

Gain valuable insight into your business’s online presence today!

Post written by Kat McDaniel, Chief Innovator at MEDiAHEAD | Marketing Portal Guru | Variable Data Promoter | Analytics Advocate | Explorer

Personalization using data is much more than simply addressing a piece of direct mail.

By using your data and analytics, and segmenting customers, marketers can craft a personalized piece of direct mail that speaks to the customer. This usually generates a much better response and ROI.

Years ago we encouraged one of our customers, the YMCA, to let us analyze their yearly campaign to attract new members in January.

They dropped hundreds of thousands of postcards after the holidays, hoping to encourage people to adopt a healthier lifestyle and participate in the many programs they offered.

We analyzed 10 years of data and segmented their potential members into five categories.

They then developed a campaign with different photos, an offer and copy to appeal to each category.

We also matched up the categories with the “most likely to join” people in a 5-mile radius around the centers.

Instead of mailing 900,000 random postcards, we only mailed to 220,000 to very targeted households.

The overall response was five times more than a random mailing.

Even better, the YMCA saved the print cost and postage on 680,000 households!

I’ve always appreciated that the YMCA’s CMO was so forward-thinking and innovative many years ago when not many companies approached their marketing this way.

Using data and analytics in your marketing effort saves time, money, and yields better results.

To find out how we can help you and your company put your data and analytics to work, give us a call today!

Post written by Kat McDaniel, Chief Innovator at MEDiAHEAD | Marketing Portal Guru | Variable Data Promoter | Analytics Advocate | Explorer

One of those small comforts has come to be Fred Rogers’s famous advice to look for the helpers.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news,” Rogers said to his television neighbors, “my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

I attended the 70 over 70 Awards luncheon recently. This event recognized older adults in our community who are doing good works all over our great city.

The event was put on by the Sheperd’s Center whose mission is to help older adults live healthy, engaged and independent lives.

They honored the many outstanding adults who are passionate people and who give their time every day to enhance our community. Thank you Kelly Jander for organizing this wonderful event!

Wouldn’t it be helpful if we all worked to make our community better like these older adults through contributions of talent, funds and most precious, our time?

On a personal note…

I’m engaged to a wonderful caring man who gave up his career at 60 to teach in the inner city schools for five years.

He’s inspired all of us at MEDiAHEAD to volunteer in our community and to help people who are less fortunate than we are.

Just knowing him has made me a better person.

Teaching is hard, both physically and mentally. He writes lesson plans every night to make sure he’s prepared for the next day.

And it can be frustrating because so many children in the school system are far below their grade level in reading and math.

One of the reasons I LOVE our city is because there are so many helpers here who are so generous with their time and money.

Be a helper. Give a little. Give a lot. Change the world.

Post written by Kat McDaniel, Chief Innovator at MEDiAHEAD | Marketing Portal Guru | Variable Data Promoter | Analytics Advocate | Explorer

I never came home from school and didn’t see my mother with a book in her hand.

My parents always read in the evenings and on vacations in front of me and my three sisters. They instilled a love of reading in me at a very young age.

My father would take me to the bookstore on Saturday mornings. Each time, I was allowed to pick out one book to add to our library at home. It was never anything I considered fun – he started me on the classics, which were pretty painful to read at that age.

I also worked in the school library and was a pretty shy, nerdy kid – always with a book in my hand. People who know me now can’t imagine that I was painfully shy until after college.

Most of my peers read tons of business books. I just can’t do it. Why? Because I read to escape, to distract, to travel, and to visualize imaginary worlds.

Most people will tell you that PRINT is dead, but we still consume books—we just do it differently now.

According to a new survey from Pew Research, about three-quarters of us (74 percent) have read at least one book in any format in the past 12 months.

That figure has remained relatively unchanged since 2012. Most (67 percent) have read a print book. Fewer have read an e-book (26 percent) or listened to an audiobook (18 percent).

I’m currently reading 10 books that Afar recommended about adventurous hikes that people have done all over the world.

My favorite so far is Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail by Carrot Quinn. Thru-hiking is hiking a long-distance within one hiking season.

As most of you know, I have a son that has been a thru-hiker since he was 18. He’s hiked in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, India, the Himalayas, the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the Moab and the Grand Canyon.

He also biked through Australia for two years, lived in New Zealand and crewed on a boat in the Pacific.

I wish I’d been brave enough at his age to see all the incredible things he has. For now, I’ll have to be content to hear his stories and read about the incredible hikes other people have done all over this beautiful planet.

What about you? What books are you reading right now? What are your favorites?

Post Author: Michele Stillwell, Marketing Distribution Portal Enthusiast | Marketing Guru | Accounting Shark | Lover of All Animals

Half Way, Baby! #KATSTRONG

Remember my blog post titled Kathryn McDaniel – Perseverance Personified?

Perseverance means to not give up.

It’s persistence and tenacity.

It’s doing something and keeping at it, no matter how hard it is. 

With that in mind, I wanted to take a few minutes to bring you up-to-speed on Kat’s condition and treatment.

Kat has been keeping up with her treatments and it definitely hasn’t been easy.

We’ve all watched her come and go, week to week, in and out of KU getting stuck again and again.

I’ll be honest…it made me tear up as I wrote this post.

Anyone who knows Kat knows she’s not a quitter.

She is strong and just keeps getting stronger. We’re so incredibly lucky to have her and we’re inspired by her every day.

The great news is that she is HALF WAY THERE!!! And…. all of her tests keep coming back cancer free!!!

We’re so grateful for this wonderful news and we just had to share it with all of you.

If you haven’t come by to see Kat, drop in sometime and say hello. She’s trying to be in the office more and more.

Even more impressive, she still keeps that incredible smile and keeps laughing, even though we’re sure she’s not always feeling well.

We’re so thrilled to have this great news.

All we need to do is keep encouraging her for the next six months. She can and will do it!

Kat takes PERSEVERANCE to the next level!