So I’m starting a blog. And, I’m doing it even though I think there are way too many blogs, especially by us “marketers”. Don’t get me wrong there are some great ones, but let’s be honest many blogs in the marketing arena are either regurgitating news that’s already out there or are obvious SEO plays to write topical content that has little substance.

So why add to the mess you say? Good question. I thought a lot about if I should write one, and almost every part of me thought it was a bad idea. First off I’ve tried it before and sucked at it and barely ever posted. Second, writing is a challenge for me. I can talk with the best of them, and as anyone who’s ever worked with me knows, I love to stand at the white board and draw ugly pictures and write illegibly for hours. But, for some reason sitting down in front of a blank page and writing is an anxious endeavor for me. I’ve always been more of a numbers guy, at least that’s what I tell myself. And finally, I don’t know that anyone will ever find this or read it. We are a small demand gen agency in Austin that focuses primarily on lead based businesses. While we do some pretty cool work that I think is leading edge (at least in certain arenas), and we’ve got some great clients, including the likes of Google, Bazaarvoice, Thycotic, Neogenis and many others…let’s be honest we aren’t very well known. The agency has been around for a little over 5 years now, and we haven’t spent a whole lot of time working on getting our name out there.

But alas, here we are. And, here are the 3 reasons that convinced me that I should do this.

1.) I’m committed to truly measuring the impact marketing has on businesses. And, helping others to do the same.

This commitment is really the foundation for our entire business. It’s what motivates me each day, and it’s what has led us to start with lead-based businesses that have been entirely underserved with today’s typical measurement systems. I love Google Analytics, but it has no way to tell you if a single lead a business ever creates turns into a sale or not. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great platform for eComm businesses, or to measure the performance of your website. But, it simply doesn’t measure anything that doesn’t happen on the website, which for lead-based businesses is where all the good stuff actually happens.

We’ve spent the better part of the past 4 years trying to figure out how to accurately measure marketing’s impact on lead-based businesses. Along the way we’ve found some interesting ways to more holistically measure marketing’s impact on a couple of eComm clients as well. Including views that are outside of what you can typically get from Google Analytics. As a result of this work, I think we have some good stuff to share. With this blog I’m going to embrace the philosophy of sharing this knowledge freely so I can help all marketers (not just our clients) find ways to better measure what their marketing is contributing to their business.

2.) I’m on a journey to solve even more marketing measurement challenges. And, I want to share what I find.

Even with all that we’ve done so far, which I’ll share over the next several blog posts, there is still a long way to go. Each time we figure out some new way to provide proper attribution, or to look at data in a new way to make smarter decisions, it seems that we find another thing that needs to be thought through and figured out. My commitment to my company is to work through our list of measurement “opportunities” that we still have left to solve over the rest of 2016 and likely beyond. I have shifted my internal responsibilities so I can be on the front line of this work. And, I’m planning to use this blog in a two-fold manner on this journey. One, to chronicle the progress that we’ve made, or better said to blackmail myself into making progress on a weekly basis that I can share. And, two to spread the wealth. If I find something cool about how to better measure the impact that online display (banners) has on marketing, then I think other marketers will be interested in that. So, why not put it out there.

3.) I’m scared of it.

I’m at the point in my career and my life that I need to push myself out of my comfort zone to make the contribution I want to make in the marketing industry and in the world. That means doing things like writing a blog, public speaking and publishing content to share the good stuff that I’ve/we’ve been doing with the world. It doesn’t come from a place of wanting fame or recognition, but more from a place of wanting to make a contribution. At least that’s what I think my motivation is…

If no one picks up what I’m putting down on this thing, so be it. At least I’ll have a nice chronicle of all of the work I’m going to be doing over the next 6+ months. And, I can look back on it with a scotch in hand and be proud of what I did. But, hopefully a few people find some interesting nuggets in this blog that help them be more successful in their job, and produce better results for their company. That would be cool.

Alright, enough preamble. My intention is to post once a week, and share something useful each time. And, even though this is a blog focused on marketing analytics, we will also have some posts about Demand Generation and what we’ve found to work most effectively in developing a system that helps marketing leaders confidently hit their goals and continue to get better.

If you like or hate what you read, please comment. And, I’m always open for suggestions or questions. As you can tell I’m pretty nerdy about this stuff and love trying to solve problems. If you made it through this whole thing, thanks, and I hope you get something out of this blog now and in the future.