Measuring Success: Using Google Analytics to Improve Your Business Decisions

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Laura McKenzie, where we are talking all about why as business owners we need to be taking data and analytics in our business seriously. Through her business Cloudy Day Digital, Laura offers measurement marketing services to business owners and sales teams; helping them to demystify the world of analytics and feel confident in making data-driven decisions. With a varied background in film and television, broadcast digital media, as well as hospitality sales, Laura’s background offers businesses a unique approach to analysing their next campaign.   KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST How your data can help you make better decisions What you should be tracking through Google Analytics GDPR compliance and tracking your customers online   LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE Connect with Laura on LinkedIn and Instagram Sign up for Laura's email list 'The Forecast' Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook   Transcript Teresa: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of your dream business podcast. How the devil are you? I hope you are good. So, back again with another interview, like I said, I think I mentioned it last week, I'm going to be doing a lot of interviews. I just really enjoy talking to people. And also, I enjoy talking in general, actually, kind of understatement. But also there's a lot of things that I am not the expert on. And I know a lot of amazing humans who are expert at things. And as I said last week, they just happen to be members of my executive club, which is wonderful, but that's not the reason I chose them. I chose them because they are very good at what they do. So today I have got the very lovely Laura McKenzie, who is joining me on the podcast. Now, Laura sent me her bio over, but basically I'm going to say in short, Laura is like all things Google, tech, data genius stuff. Okay. And she's going to help us understand a little bit more about what that is. Things like Google, my business, Laura did some training for us. And I realized in that training, I didn't have a Google, my business, which I still haven't done. Don't tell her. So yes, so Laura is all things tech and analytics, and she's going to help us understand what they do for us in our business. So welcome to the podcast, Laura, how are you doing? Laura: That's lovely. Thank you very much. It's great to be here. We'll be listening to quite a few of them recently. Just thinking, Oh God, what am I going to say? But no, I'm here now. And ask me whatever you want. Teresa: Oh, well now I'm going to, like, you're going to be sorry you said that. So like most of my amazing members, members, I said that wrong, members, I'll start again. I did just tell Laura that this is a clean episode, i. e. whatever we record goes out. So I've messed up. That's fine. Laura has a really interesting background and a bit like when we had Katie on and it's like, we'll be in the group chat saying something and then they'll drop in and one of them will go, Oh yeah, when I did so and so and we're like, what? Like, this happens all the time with Laura as well as Katie. So Laura had a background in, like, the television type industry, so I want you to tell us, and actually she gave me a fact, that she was once a picture in a wanted poster on a BBC daytime drama. What the hell, man? So how do we go from being a wanted poster in a BBC daytime drama, to doing what you do today? Laura: Okay, yeah, so my, my journey has been quite interesting, I guess. I've got a film degree, and that's always what I wanted to do from when I was very little. I always wanted to be a director with a hat on, telling people what to do. But then when you get out in the real world and actually learn, you think, Oh, I don't actually, I don't want to do that. So yeah, I first started out as a runner, so making teas and copies everywhere for film and TV sets. And I worked in drama, so rather than, like, your X Factors entertainment shows, I was working on those sort of Netflix dramas, or poor Netflix. And yeah, one of the shows I worked on was a daytime TV show for the BBC. And often the art department would, they'd have to create so many different props. And one of them was this Wanted poster. Where they came in and said, oh, we really need just a picture for this. So I thought, well, if here's my chance to be a criminal on TV, why not? Teresa: I love it. I love it. Laura: So yeah, I love that fact because then I completely forget about it. And then, yeah, when it was on TV, I was watching and I said, oh, let's rewind that back. Yeah, that was great. That was quite fun. So, my, yeah, my background was in film and TV for a bit. And it was really good. Then I sort of moved, because you sort of work on contracts of contracts in television, so you go three months on one thing, then you jump on to the next, so it's not very stable. Neither is freelance life, so maybe that's why I quite like it. Yeah, that's probably it. So, I was doing that quite a bit. And then I moved into more of a digital role in TV broadcasts. And I loved it. And it wasn't something I ever thought that I would ever do before. And all of a sudden, here I am with a digital team. And we're coming up with different campaigns to get people to watch the main program. And it was just a complete eye opener for me. And I was sort of hooked from then on. So It was in broadcast media, contracts happen, and then they stop. Normally in TV, if you get to near October and you've not got the next contract, you're thinking, okay, I'm not going to be working over Christmas. Yeah. So, I randomly got a job in hospitality, just to cover me for that time. And I ended up working in a hotel as a concierge, just to get a bit of money. And My marketing wasn't quite satisfied and moved into their marketing team. So all of a sudden from broadcast media and doing something completely different. I'm in the marketing team, quite a corporate big business with, quarterly sales meetings, APIs and everything like that. So that was quite fun. And yeah, that's really how I started to get into it, and I was there for quite a few years, and I just started noticing in probably around June for hospitality, if anyone's worked in it before, June is when you start talking about Christmas, and you get your Christmas jumpers on, you're going around hospitals with mid spies, and. Teresa: Oh my goodness. Yeah, that would be my husband's idea of hell. I mean, he's not even cool with Christmas in December, let alone in the middle of the year. Laura: Exactly. It's just, it's a bit of a nightmare, but, you start looking at it. And so all your marketing campaigns are revolving around Christmas a lot of the time. And I just kept on thinking, it was like a niggling thing that was in my brain all the time about, well, how, when, how are we measuring this by each different thing that we do? Cause a lot of it was quite ridiculous. I mean, all respect to sales teams and hospitality, they're probably the hardest workers I know, but, Yeah, I kept thinking, Oh, you do all this all the time, but we're measuring the outcome, but you're not measuring the little individual bits to see what makes sense. So that was always in the back of my mind. And when the pandemic hit was when I was in another role because I'd moved cities. And I lost my job. So I was about six months into 2020 going, Oh, I've not got any income whatsoever. Teresa: Probably need a job, or some money. Laura: Yeah, need a job. And I thought, I've been thinking about this for ages. Why don't I just do it? Don't have a boss. I'll just see what I can do. And here I am, a few years later, still doing it, so. Yeah, it's going okay. Teresa: That's awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So the first question I've got to ask you is what programs are you on that people would recognize? Because that's obviously one of the most important things. Laura: Of course. So big one is Hollyoaks probably. So that was, that was possibly one of the best places to work. So if anyone's around Liverpool, they need a job. Try and work at Lime, at Hollyoaks. They're the best people. So, Hollyoaks, and then, first film I worked on was the Horrible Histories Bill film. So, they did this big thing in Yorkshire where it was about William Shakespeare writing his first play. And so yeah, so I was a production runner on that one. And then, No Offence, if anyone's watched that one, with Joanna Scanlon. So that's a Channel 4 thing. Based in Manchester. So there was lots of fake, fake blood and fake drugs and everything on that scene. Teresa: Love it. Laura: So that was quite fun....