Digital Marketing has moved away from the old mindset of focusing on past experiences or increasing brand exposure. The major element is now on collecting data and interpreting its meaning for analysis and decision making. As the importance of Data is on the Rise, this means that marketers must have the knowledge of collecting and presenting data. Data Visualisation is no longer a skill that only researchers or Data Scientists should have.
What is Data Visualization?
Data visualization is the illustrated representation of data and information. By using visual elements like maps, graphs, charts, to help the audience understand the trends, patterns in the results at a glance.
Big Data has been around since 2005, DataScientists and Data Analysis have become one of the most in-demand jobs in tech and start-up industries. This has also changed the marketing ecosystem which gradually emphasizes data orientation. Hence, Data Visualization has eventually become a skill that marketers should have in order to help stakeholders make decisions more quickly and accurately.
Before we begin, you can click here to receive learning resources in the future to help you better understand the concept and the know-how of data visualization for marketing.
How can Marketers learn Data Visualization?
In terms of large data analysis and data visualization, R programming and Python skills are often required, but that is also some in-depth programming skills that most marketers do not have. Fret not, there are many resourceful and good data visualization tools that can be used without having any programming skills.
However, keep in mind that if you want to learn how to visualize data, mastering these tools is not the primary goal. Check out the steps below to find out more.
1. Learn how to organize data
Marketers are always looking at numbers and are not new to Facebook Advertising or Google Ads which have huge amounts of data that can be analyzed. What metrics are important are decided by the marketers. Do I want to track monthly CPA? Do I want to see weekly conversion rates of different products? Marketers will need different data for different goals respectively, then export and organize them through Excel or Google Sheet to have clean and usable data.
2. Decide what to include in the Chart
The purpose of data visualization is to convey complicated data in the simplest and clearest way. A clear chart usually is not allowed to have too much information, you will have to decide what information you need the most.
For example, do you want to present the percentage of users by region, post rankings, or conversion rate from month to month? Plan on what kind of information you want to present first and how each data relates to the other. The chart will be much simpler and more understandable.
3. Choose the right graph types
There are a few common types of data visualization which include charts, tables, graphs, maps, infographics, etc. The right visualization must be paired with the right set of information.
For example, pie charts are suitable for presenting different proportions of information such as the percentage of revenue generated by different products; bar graphs are good for changes in trends such as the revenue generated by 2 products for each month.
When you understand the relationship between these charts and information, you can definitely visualize it better.
Recommended Data Visualization Tools
Once you have the basics of data organization, data analysis, and understanding the charts’ differences, it’s time to visualize the data. Check out the top 5 user-friendly data visualization tools for marketers.
Excel & Google Sheet
You must be thinking, I am using this every day! Yes, but are you really familiar with every formula or function that you can do with it? Most marketers that want to learn data visualization have the misconception that there must be some tools that can generate beautiful charts by just throwing in data.
The prerequisite for creating beautiful data charts is to get familiar with the characteristics of the data and the relationship between them. If you are relatively new to data, Excel and Google Sheet are the best tools to learn to organize, interpret and visualize data. When you are familiar with them, you can actually create professional charts from scratch in both Excel and Google Sheet.
Google Data Studio
Google Data Studio is a free data visualization tool launched by Google. It can be integrated with other tools such as Google Analytics, Google Sheet, YouTube, Google Ads, etc. If you are the marketers often use these tools, Google Data Studio is a good option for you to visualize data. It has a lot of templates that can be used to save you from the trouble of thinking about the presentation. It also has a few animated featured which allow you to make stunning visualization effects.
Tableau
Tableau is probably one of the most well-known data visualization tools in the world. It is very easy to use as it does not require programming skills and is able to visualize data by dragging and dropping. Tableau is also very fast and user-friendly even when the data is huge.
Power BI
Power BI is a data visualization tool by Microsoft . If you are a Microsoft Office user, it will be the most convenient option for you to use Power BI. In addition, Power BI emphasizes the combination of analysis and visualization. Import the raw data and let Power BI help you analyze and visualize your data.
Visme
One of the biggest advantages of Visme is there are tons of beautiful templates that can be used, not only for data visualization but also for branded content. There are many elements that can be made in infographics, many people use Visme for Instagram content creations as well.
Conclusion
To give you a recap, effective data visualization is the significant step of data analysis. Although marketers usually don’t have to deal with complicated data like Data Engineers or Data Scientists, Data Visualization is still a big learning curve for most marketers. This article only includes the basic guides for beginners. If you wish to learn more about data visualization, click here to receive exclusive learning resources. Become a data-driven marketer who excels in Data Visualization!