Robert Petković, Bruketa&Žinić&Grey’s web analytics expert, is a frequent guest lecturer at conferences and workshops across the region. At least once a month you can listen to his lecture somewhere, as he is trying to educate young digital people and experienced marketing experts about why and how to properly use web analytics. His most recent lecture was in Banja Luka, where he held a two-day workshop in the Innovation Center in June. We talked to Robert about this workshop.
How does analytics help us in digital marketing? Why is it important?
Robert Petković: The Internet, or rather Digital, has brought us two important changes in relation to classic marketing: two-way communication and more direct measurability. Measurability means that every day we have more and more data that can show us if our campaign is successful and whether we should make some changes so our campaign, web site, newsletter or Facebook page are even more successful.
The abundance of data however doesn’t mean anything without good analytics, which, despite the increasing assistance of artificial intelligence and machine learning, still relies on people – our experience, context, knowledge and intelligence. Poor reading of data or bad analysis may misjudge the causes of a campaign’s or site’s success or failure, while good analysis is a great friend to all creators in digital marketing.
What are the most important knowledge and skills that you are trying to teach participants in your workshops and lectures?
Robert Petković: I’m trying to show through examples that it’s not so important to read the various numbers we see on the screen, but rather manage them. The number on the screen itself means nothing if we don’t know its cause, if we don’t have a strategy and tactic through which we want to achieve the desired result.
What I also want to show them is the passion with which I approach my work and those odd figures and graphs, and the fact that I’m dealing with digital jobs on the world level from our country, which is being left by so many young people all the time.
Digital jobs are not the future, they are the present, and digital experts are very sought after both here and abroad. If at each of my lessons I encourage at least one person to think about their career more deeply, or if only one of the participants after my lecture begins to use the advice I have shown in their digital campaigns – my mission is fulfilled.
You studied psychology, so you can say first hand why psychology is important for digital marketing. Does it help us in analytics, and how?
Robert Petković: Among the social sciences scholars, psychologists have the best knowledge in statistics, which are essential for digital marketing and analysis of the success of marketing campaigns. Also, psychologists during their studies learn how to interpret and understand human behavior from various numbers, tables, and graphs, and we see these figures every day in the tools that digital experts use. Because of this knowledge in psychology, my practice has shown me that my colleagues psychologists usually come up with explanations of some numbers faster or in a different way, which often proved correct.
What is the difference between good and bad web analytics? What isn’t web analytics, and what is?
Robert Petković: Poor analytics is the one that only shows you numbers and current state without explaining the cause. Good analytics clarifies figures, lists causes and suggests changes. Also, web analytics is not a “market research”, which usually comes before some campaigns. Web analytics provides feedback during or after a campaign, enabling us to change various campaign elements and make it more successful as it rolls out. This is something that classic offline channels can’t achieve because once you launch an offline campaign, that’s it, and there can be no changes, until the next campaign.
What advice would you give to future digital experts?
Robert Petković: Digital world brings rapid and radical changes, and requires all of the participants to quickly adapt to the new tools and services. Those who want a successful career in digital must be prepared for daily learning and acquiring new skills and specialization. I still take about an hour a day to learn new things or communicate with other specialists in my area so that I can be up to date with new changes in my business. Perhaps this sounds tedious, but anyone interested in digital is usually interested in all the news and changes. Digital marketing has more and more stake in marketing cake, the bigger the budgets allocated to it, the higher the need for professional staff in digital will be. At present, the situation in our country and in the world is such that we are chronically lacking quality digital experts, so most digital people can count on finding a job quickly. Also, I must point out that with regard to the implementation of digital services in marketing, Croatia has been in the world top for years, and digital experts who want to work with top specialists don’t have to go abroad to work on top-notch projects.
Interview for Media Marketing
