INBOX INSIGHTS, January 3, 2024: Process Over Outcome, Data as an AI Advantage - Trust Insights Marketing Analytics Consulting

INBOX INSIGHTS: Process Over Outcome, Data as an AI Advantage (1/3) :: View in browser

👉 Take our new Generative AI for Marketers course!

Focus on the Process, Not the Outcomes

Ah, the new year. A fresh start for everyone, whether you asked for it or not. Metrics roll over, expectations are reset, and resolutions are made.

We often pressure ourselves to not only set big goals but also to achieve them. Dreaming big and being ambitious are admirable, but it’s equally important to inject some reality into our aspirations.

Focus on the process, not just the outcomes.

It’s easy to throw out numbers and claim them as your goals. Lose 20 pounds. Visit 20 countries. Adopt 20 dogs. However, these are merely numbers; they represent your desired outcomes. While it’s crucial to understand your direction and aspirations, it’s more important to know how you’ll achieve them. So, focus on the process, not just the outcomes.

Take, for example, the goal of losing 20 pounds. That’s a a good start, but it’s vital to build a plan around achieving this goal. What if you don’t reach it? You might feel defeated and less inclined to try again. That’s why focusing on the process is key.

You might wonder, “Isn’t this just a KPI map?” Not exactly. A KPI (Key Performance Indicator) map breaks down the metrics that indicate whether you’re on track to meet your goal. While a KPI map keeps you aligned with your goals, it often lacks context on how to improve those metrics. Let’s say your goal is to lose 20 pounds by eating 1500 calories a day and working out four times a week. These metrics would be part of your KPI map (note: this is just an example, as I’m not a fitness expert).

However, focusing solely on numbers doesn’t set you up for success. You still need to focus on the process. Start with the KPI of eating 1500 calories a day. What does that entail for you? How will you ensure adequate protein and nutrient intake? What adjustments are needed for days with more intense workouts? Establishing a detailed process will guide you toward your goal. Similarly, for working out four times a week, consider the type of exercise, necessary equipment, duration, and scheduling.

Now, think about your team and company. What ambitious goals have been set for 2024? Likely, they revolve around revenue. But how will you achieve this? Put the revenue target aside for a moment and concentrate on the process.

You might say, “We need to increase revenue by acquiring three new clients and upselling five existing ones.” Excellent. Now, break it down into repeatable processes. What steps are needed to create awareness, attract prospects, and qualify them? Focusing on each step of your process will simplify reaching your goals.

Remember, it’s only January. You have time to thoughtfully set up processes that will aid in achieving your goals. By documenting these processes and measuring progress, you can make necessary adjustments along the way.

What’s next? Set your goals, translate them into KPIs, and then prioritize the process.

Are you setting goals for 2024? I’d love to hear about them. Reply to this email to tell me or come join the conversation in our Free Slack Group, Analytics for Marketers.

– Katie Robbert, CEO

January 2024 One Click Poll

Please click/tap on just one answer – this is our monthly survey to see how we’re doing, so please do take it each month!

How likely are you to recommend Trust Insights as a consulting firm to someone in the next 90 days?

We use this information to measure how effective our marketing is. There’s no form to fill out – tapping your answer is literally all there is to it. Thank you for your help!

Do you have a colleague or friend who needs this newsletter? Send them this link to help them get their own copy:

https://www.trustinsights.ai/newsletter

In this episode of In-Ear Insights, the Trust Insights podcast, Katie and Chris discuss generative AI in 2024 and the rapid advancements in generative AI over the past year, including significant developments in various AI models.

Watch/listen to this episode of In-Ear Insights here »

Last time on So What? The Marketing Analytics and Insights Livestream, we built a custom GPT specifically for sales professionals. Catch the episode replay here!

On this week’s So What? The Marketing Analytics and Insights Live show, we’ll be doing an AMA on generative AI. Tune in this Thursday at 1 PM Eastern Time and bring your questions! Are you following our YouTube channel? If not, click/tap here to follow us!

Here’s some of our content from recent days that you might have missed. If you read something and enjoy it, please share it with a friend or colleague!

Take your skills to the next level with our premium courses.

Get skilled up with an assortment of our free, on-demand classes.

In this week’s Data Diaries, let’s talk about one of the major factors that will determine success or failure when it comes to generative AI: the quality of your data.

Right now, we’re still in the early days, the infancy of using tools like ChatGPT or Stable Diffusion. The use cases people are applying these tools to are mostly generic – “help me write a blog post about marketing automation”, for example. That requires no external data, relying on the data that’s already inside the models.

However, what’s inside the models is an aggregation of publicly available data. It’s good, certainly, but one thing it isn’t is unique. Everyone’s using the same base model and the same base data. What would differentiate you? Your data, the data you have behind closed doors that was never published on the Internet for language model makers to scrape.

Back in November of last year, OpenAI rolled out one of the first mass customization capabilities for non-technical users with their Custom GPTs. This facility lets the non-technical user customize ChatGPT to use their own data, function calls, and custom prompts. What makes a Custom GPT work really well? You guessed it – the data you upload.

How would you use your own data in an example like this? Say I was going to build a Custom GPT for email marketing. A while back, I wrote a book that is no longer publicly available on 52 tips for email marketing. I still have a digital copy on my hard drive, but the public version is gone and has been gone for a decade now. Much of the advice is still practical and useful, so I would take that PDF and load it into a Custom GPT. Now, my Custom GPT has knowledge that is unique, that is different than what others would be using if they were to build a Custom GPT for email marketing.

Here’s another example. Suppose I wanted to make a Custom GPT that could talk with a specific perspective about marketing analytics. As the administrator and owner of the Analytics for Marketers Slack group, I could export the entire archive of conversations from the last 5 years, anonymize and de-identify it to protect user privacy, and then load that conversation data into a Custom GPT. Those conversations aren’t publicly available; no search engine or crawler can get to it and use it. But my Custom GPT could leverage that knowledge to be a better conversationalist about marketing analytics by giving it more specific conversations just about marketing analytics.

A third example that many companies can probably relate to are conference calls. You’ve been on so many calls, and some of those calls have been super valuable. Maybe you have a call center with call recordings. Maybe you have a sales CRM that logs calls from your sales team. Whatever the case is, you have a treasure trove of audio data that you could use AI to transcribe, de-identify, then add to a generative AI system. That custom data would give an incredible amount of context to any AI system, and it’s uniquely yours.

So your first task is to examine the data you have access to that others don’t. What data do you have laying around, on laptops and servers, that might be useful to help a language model increase its context and understanding about your specific way of doing things?

As generative AI continues to evolve, your specific data will become more and more valuable – if you can find it and use it well. Now is the time to start inventorying it and preparing it for use with AI.

Here’s a roundup of who’s hiring, based on positions shared in the Analytics for Marketers Slack group and other communities.

Are you a member of our free Slack group, Analytics for Marketers? Join 3000+ like-minded marketers who care about data and measuring their success. Membership is free – join today. Members also receive sneak peeks of upcoming data, credible third-party studies we find and like, and much more. Join today!

Imagine a world where your marketing strategies are supercharged by the most cutting-edge technology available – Generative AI. Generative AI has the potential to save you incredible amounts of time and money, and you have the opportunity to be at the forefront. Get up to speed on using generative AI in your business in a thoughtful way with our new offering, Generative AI for Marketers, which comes in two flavors, workshops and a course.

Workshops: Offer the Generative AI for Marketers half and full day workshops at your company. These hands-on sessions are packed with exercises, resources and practical tips that you can implement immediately.

👉 Click/tap here to book a workshop

Course: We’ve turned our most popular full-day workshop into a self-paced course, available now!

👉 Click/tap here to register for the course

Interested in sponsoring INBOX INSIGHTS? Contact us for sponsorship options to reach over 26,000 analytically-minded marketers and business professionals every week.

Where can you find Trust Insights face-to-face?

MarketingProfs AI Series, Virtual, January 2024
Tourism Industry Association of Alberta’s Tourism Summit, Edmonton, February 2024
Social Media Marketing World, San Diego, February 2024
MarketingProfs AI Series, Virtual, March 2024
Australian Food and Grocery Council, Melbourne, May 2024
MAICON, Cleveland, September 2024

Going to a conference we should know about? Reach out!

Want some private training at your company? Ask us!

First and most obvious – if you want to talk to us about something specific, especially something we can help with, hit up our contact form.

Where do you spend your time online? Chances are, we’re there too, and would enjoy sharing with you. Here’s where we are – see you there?

Our Featured Partners are companies we work with and promote because we love their stuff. If you’ve ever wondered how we do what we do behind the scenes, chances are we use the tools and skills of one of our partners to do it.

Read our disclosures statement for more details, but we’re also compensated by our partners if you buy something through us.

Some events and partners have purchased sponsorships in this newsletter and as a result, Trust Insights receives financial compensation for promoting them. Read our full disclosures statement on our website .

Thanks for subscribing and supporting us. Let us know if you want to see something different or have any feedback for us!

Need help with your marketing AI and analytics?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter

Pin It on Pinterest