Improve Data Analysis with Google Data Studio 360

May 29, 2020
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A massive amount of data accompanies the everyday work of a marketer. They need to understand, analyze, and visualize the most essential pieces of their data and turn it into actionable insights that will bring better business outcomes. 

Due to the global crisis, all businesses faced unexpected changes which in turn forced brands to evaluate how strong their marketing strategy was. Instant adaptation to the shifting environment meant marketers needed to leverage their own data to make informed decisions fast. In-depth data analysis revealed the changes in consumer behavior in real-time so that brands could adjust their marketing strategy accordingly. An agile marketing strategy helps businesses ensure budget safety while generating business growth.

Analytical platforms, such as Google Analytics, are robust data analysis solutions that provide a single-source of analytic truth, but marketers need more than that. To be successful, brands need to understand these valuable insights to make informed decisions that push the business needle forward. The challenge marketers typically face is evident when they need to actually connect all their data from multiple sources while ensuring it’s current and accurate.

So, how can marketers extract real-time data from multiple data sources, and analyze it effectively in a single view to make data-driven decisions? This is where data visualization tools come into play.

What is Data Visualization and Why is it Important?

Data visualization is a way of representing data in a visual format, like graphs or charts, that helps easily understand a report’s meaning. According to a study conducted by the University of Minnesota and 3M Corporation, human brains process visual information faster than text. Data visualization helps to communicate valuable insights to decision-makers that will ultimately enable them to make better decisions, faster.

Data visualization can help marketing teams identify the critical trends, patterns, and correlations that impact a business, and easily analyze the data to make informed decisions. By visualizing data, marketers can estimate values and assess risks before taking action, saving wasted budget. Data visualization also can open up team bandwidths by reallocating time spent digging into complicated data sets and dedicate it to analysis and optimization for profitable results, instead.

There are a vast number of Business Intelligence (BI) platforms and data visualization tools available on the market. The majority of them require time and investments, but not Data Studio.

What is Google Data Studio 360?

Google Data Studio 360 is a free powerful reporting and data visualization tool that is a part of the enterprise-level solution, Google Marketing Platform. It integrates with many different advertising and analytical platforms, making it easy for marketers to extract data from different sources and visualize it all within a single tool.

Google Data Studio 360 has native integration with all Google Marketing Platform properties like Google Analytics 360Display & Video 360Search Ads 360, and Campaign Manager. It’s a free useful tool for Google Marketing Platform customers that can automate the reporting process and simply visualize complex data.

Data Studio’s customized interactive dashboards enable marketers to import data, reorganize it into charts, tables, or diagrams, and make real-time updates. Access to in-depth insights on a brand’s real-time media performance will ultimately lead to making successful data-driven decisions.

What is Google Data Studio 360 Integration?

Data Studio connects with various databases like BigQuery, Cloud SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and even Google Sheets tables, so marketers can upload CSV files directly from their computers (for example, data from social media accounts). It also connects with search engine accounts, social media accounts, and other advertising platforms. Furthermore, most companies already have community connectors for a Google Data Studio 360 integration in place. 

By connecting all the data sources into a single platform, marketers can access all real-time advertising and analytical reports directly in the Data Studio without wasting time pulling them from separate platforms. With Google Data Studio 360, brands can quickly and effectively analyze their data and make informed decisions to achieve better results.

Should the Data be Prepared for an Integration?

The vast majority of data sources do not require any additional data transformation or format changes before integration to Data Studio. The platform automatically recognizes most metrics and dimensions and assigns them the appropriate format. The only exceptions are CSV files and Google Sheets tables, both of which require initial data sources. 

This distinct feature has a considerable benefit as marketers can easily set up connections with multiple data sources without involving other teams. They can build readable reports based on real-time data, and reallocate saved time to data analysis and optimization for increased marketing efficiency. 

Does Data Studio Allow You to Calculate Custom Metrics and Dimensions?

Apart from a vast number of pre-built reporting indicators, Data Studio has a powerful option to create custom metrics (e.g. CPC, CPM, CTR, etc.) and dimensions (e.g. redefine a device type by combining mobile and tablet).

But what if analysts need to calculate custom metrics in Data Studio by using indicators from different data sources? It’s easy with the powerful Data Blending feature which allows marketers to create charts based on multiple data sources. By pulling up data from different sources, analysts can easily create a complete data source.

By leveraging Data Blending, marketers can save their time and efforts spent manipulating data, in the other tools aimed at driving increased profitability. 

Data Studio versus Google Analytics

Typical Google Analytics reports allow analysts to build dashboards and turn the data either into charts or some other basic format of data visualization. Google Analytics is a powerful solution for data collection, analysis, and tracking, but has it’s limitations when it comes to data visualization. 

Google Data Studio 360 offers advanced data visualization capabilities that enable marketers to build, edit, and share reports among the team for free. Data Studio has a wide range of visualization tools (including graphs, tables, pivots, line, bar and pie charts, geo-map, etc.,) and design elements(such as lines, vector shapes, and image insertion), so you can choose the most relevant illustrative form to present your data.

Another great advantage of Data Studio is its interactive capabilities. By leveraging filters and controls, users can decide what information to display. This ability makes exploration much faster and reduces the time to insight.

A benefit of connecting data sources in Data Studio is that your data will be updated automatically. This allows marketers to effectively analyze their data in real-time and make informed decisions to reach the overall business goals, faster.

Conclusion

Data analysis is an essential part of marketers’ work in this modern data-focused world, and data visualization is the final critical step. Uncertainty in the global crisis made businesses rely on their data even more, in order to react to the instant changes in consumer behavior.

With Data Studio, you can connect, visualize, and share real-time data insights in a single tool. You save time extracting data and effectively identify patterns and correlations that affect the business. Clear data visualization quickly reveals the essential pieces of a brand’s data and opens it up for analysis intended to drive ROI.


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