Marketing channels performance analysis in Power BI

[Djordje_M]

Online marketing today is an essential part of all marketing efforts for any business. However, to have a successful marketing campaign, we must know the effects of our work in this field.

Why is it important to know your marketing data

We are focusing on our campaign data by developing a mechanism for tracking and measuring marketing channel performance.

Any CEO will require that all marketing be tied to ROI (return of investment). Therefore, we need to measure marketing channels, justify the expenditure and time used in marketing activities, and show that it has a clear positive impact on the important metrics and actual business results.

Unfortunately, many marketers are unclear on what an effective content marketing program looks like. The questions like Which platform to use, who our target audience is, our goals, and the relationship between cost vs. benefits need answers.

To do that, we must know what to track. And how to analyze the data. Now, many stumbles on the very first step. How to collect and organize the data we need.

One of the fast-growing services is a data integration and data platforms. They make it easy to quickly connect all your data sources, join and integrate them with other information, and use the data together in any other application, marketing platform, or visualization tool.

 How to connect data

Services like Windsor.ai offer to collect and organize your data from various marketing platforms like Facebook Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Twitter, and CRM software like HubSpot, Salesforce, and even Amazon and perform successful marketing channels performance analysis.

There are two ways you can use your data. You can select the data you want to see in your visualization tool (or use one that the service provides), or you can decide that it is easier to start with the pre-made template. Both approaches are equally good, and it all depends on your preference and expertise level. For beginners, it is always easier to use the templates.

To use the templates, you need to follow the instructions given by the service provider, like for this Facebook Ads template for Power BI.

Regardless of whether you will use the templates or create your own query, you need to connect your data as the first step.

Some users might be concerned about the issue of granting access to your data to a third party. Companies like Windsor.ai have the highest data protection standards, and your data are as safe with them as they can be. However, there are some steps that you must do, like registering for the service (free, trial, or paid one) and then grant access to each data source you want to analyze. Usually, it is a guided procedure where you are prompted to log in with your credentials to your data source and allow companies like Windsor.ai to get the data you requested. But, again, this is a step that we cannot avoid.

After connecting your data, you can start creating API queries to get the data you want into your destination.

If you want to choose your own filed list, using this simple URL and adding the data fields from a filed list for each data source, you can create your own query.

 Sample API URL

https://connectors.windsor.ai/all?api_key=[your API key]&date_preset=last_7d&fields=source,medium,campaign,clicks,impressions,spend,date&_renderer=csv

The query here contains:

A connector /all: Here, the connector is called all. This connector blends data from all sources (see Attribution connector below)

A date preset date_preset=last_7d: The last 7 days. It can be 3, 7, 14, 28,30, and 90 days.

A list of fields: source, medium, campaign, clicks, impressions, spend and date

A renderer: In this case, we would like the output to be a CSV.

Additional query parameters

date_to, in combination with date_from it will allow you to query a specific date range

Removing _renderer=csvwill return a JSON file instead (useful when working with nested data

Adding &force_refresh=true will bypass caching and fetch fresh data every time the endpoint is called

Example URL with fixed dates:

https://connectors.windsor.ai/all?api_key=[your API key]&date_from=2021-01-29&date_to=2021-01-30&fields=source,medium,campaign,clicks,impressions,spend,date&_renderer=csv

Power BI Desktop vs. Web

Talking about the Power BI Desktop and Web versions, Service providers like Windsor.ai provides templates for both Desktop and Web Power BI versions. However, it is important to know that choosing your own fields. Working without the template is only possible with the Power BI desktop.

For the users that are regular Power BI users, a web version with a template will usually be enough. Templates like Facebook Ads will give you more than enough insights into your marketing channel’s performance data.

For more advanced Power BI users, there are .pbit templates available. It is then possible to customize that report with your fields or visualizations, filters, etc.

If you choose not to use any templates, you must use Power BI Desktop. Then, query the data with the URL queries as described in the previous section.

Of course, all Power BI Desktop reports can then be published on the web. It makes them available to selected users in your organization or even available to the public.

Conclusion

Whether you choose to get your marketing performance data from each source or use services like Windsor.ai, you need to view all activities you made on online promotion efforts clearly. Using a data integration service will save a lot of time and expertise. You will be able to focus on the true meaning of your data and not worry about the technicalities of collecting them. In addition, using marketing channels performance analysis will enable you to understand and improve your marketing campaigns and improve your business performance as your primary marketing goal.

Further steps

Please let me know if this post was clear enough and provided you with the information you need to use Power BI successfully. I will be happy to update this article with the necessary details. I have published some templates in the Power BI Data Stories Gallery, and I invite you to check them out. Also, you can check for more information on my blog.