Hinrich Global Trade Leader introduces HKBU students to marketing analytics basics
Hinrich Foundation scholar Genin Koh (Singapore, NUS MBA ’19) introduced more than 20 Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) students to the basics of marketing analytics during a two-hour workshop held Nov. 12, 2018, at HKBU. Her audience included fellow scholars under the Hinrich Global Trade Leader Development Program.
Sharing knowledge gained from being in the e-commerce industry for several years, Genin enabled students to see marketing in a different light; specifically, that with the technological development of big data, the role of marketing has shifted from qualitative to quantitative.
When Genin asked the participants what marketing analytics meant to them, she received answers containing the words “customers,” “data” and “insights,” among others. Genin noted that marketing is perceived as understanding people, emotions, behaviors, trends and psychology, whereas analytics mainly deals with technology and numbers. Marketing analytics combines both and is crucial to maximize the effectiveness and optimize return on investment.
Genin started her lecture with the basics –web metrics –to facilitate understanding of analytics theory. By using examples, she helped her audience differentiate common terms in marketing analytics such as “page visits” and “page views,” and “unique visitors” and “repeat visitors”.
Additionally, Genin explained two types of traffic sources: organic and paid. She also introduced Google attribution models, including the single-touch, rules-based and customized click attribution models.
Genin ended the lecture by emphasizing that it is important to know how your metrics are defined and measured based on your own context rather than following a standard definition.
To help her audience understand the lecture and retain the knowledge, Genin gave a case study, which included a table showing figures for metrics such as total cost, conversion, share and cost per acquisition (CPA) in different marketing channels. After setting the objective of increasing online conversions, Genin encouraged the students to draw conclusions from the data and select the appropriate marketing channels.
The session ended with an exciting quiz where students competed on how much they learned from the lecture and the winner got a box of chocolate as a reward. The exercise was a great opportunity for students to review and remember the what they learned from the session.
About the author – Vitus Cheng
Vitus Cheng is currently on her final year at Hong Kong Baptist University, studying business administration, major in marketing. She intends to pursue a career in marketing, using data to enhance the effectiveness of related strategies.
