Book excerpt: In this invaluable resource, discover how to conduct smarter marketing strategies using analytics and dashboards to get the most out of your data. Did you know that your business already has the world’s greatest information-tracking team working tirelessly for you 24/7 to gather all the info you could possibly need to find your next customers? Between brand tracking, CRM programs, and online behavior tracking, as well as the always-dependable trade shows and satisfaction studies, mounds of marketing metrics are being generated for you across various touchpoints and channels. Locked in the vast quantity of information are accurate, data-driven answers to every marketing question--and analytic dashboards are the key to finding it all. In It’s Not the Size of the Data--It’s How You Use It, marketing expert Koen Pauwels introduces you to these transformative web-based tools that gather, synthesize, and visually display essential data in real time, directly connecting marketing with performance. He then supplies a simple yet rigorous methodology that explains step by step how to: Gain crucial IT support Build a rock-solid database Select key leading performance indicators Design the optimal dashboard layout Use marketing analytics to improve decisions and reap rewards There is simply too much customer-produced information out there today for marketing teams to go with gut decisions or the same old standbys. Dashboard analytics will bring scientific precision and insight to the marketing efforts of any size organization, in any industry, and turn this eye-popping data into a specific plan of attack.