Case Study: Dashboards for Senior Marketing Executives

If you’ve ever wanted to hire help but didn’t know exactly what to ask for or what you needed, you only really knew that you needed something, you know that’s a tough place to be. You don’t know what you don’t know. With the help of dashboards, you can create a roadmap and help see not only where you need to go but also where you’ve been.

Earlier this season, I talked about the Dunning Kruger effect. In fact, I’ve talked about it quite a few times. That’s because that’s where we all start when doing something new or elevating our skills. And it helps us to learn. But it is also where we can lose a lot of time, energy, and resources in following the white rabbit down the wrong hole (and ending up in Wonder-where-the-time-went Land).

Listen to Season 2: Episode 14

The Pros and Cons of Working with an Expert

How do you even go about engaging an expert when you don’t know what you don’t know and can’t tell them exactly what you need? Well, this is why there are consultants.

Now, consultants can get a bad rap because there have been experiences where the organization that hired them didn’t see the results or the value of working with them. This is sticky because sometimes the consultant came in and did a really great job. However, the organization was unable or unwilling to implement the suggestions of the consultant.

In other cases, the consultant is able to listen to the problems being experienced and then recommend a specific course of action with defined deliverables that everyone can see and agree on their value and outcome. This is how working with a consultant can be, but it does take effort on both sides to get the desired results.

Dashboards in Action: A Case Study

Recently, we worked with senior marketing executives in two organizations as a consultant to help them better use their data. In both cases, these organizations had a ton of information about the value the marketing team was creating. And in both cases, senior executives had a really hard time being able to paint the picture of the marketing team’s contribution in a way that was easily and quickly communicated to other stakeholder.

In other words, they needed dashboards.

Data Sets and Dashboards

One organization had a data set from which we could create a prototype dashboard. The other organization had a lot of information and some possibilities of different places the dashboards could be created. But they didn’t know how to pull it together. The reason these organizations hired us was to help them figure out something they didn’t have the time, resources, or skills to tackle.

For both organizations, we started with an initial consult call to figure out if FieryFX was the right fit and to gain a high-level understanding of their situation and needs. After the consult, we created a scope of work with specific deliverables. In one case, it was a prototype dashboard created from their existing data set. In the other case, it was dashboard wireframes, as the dashboards could be built with an existing tool, or with a platform to be determined.

The process began with a discovery session, a meeting where our teams met and we asked a lot of questions. Then our team went off and did the work to synthesize the information. We then came back, presented the work, and articulated the next steps.

Neither of these organizations had the time or expertise to solve this problem internally and both needed a fast and easy way to talk to their executives about how the marketing teams were contributing and show their progress toward their goals.

Real-world Results with Dashboards

After hiring FieryFX, both teams had clear ways of showing their contributions and progress toward their goals. They also had the next steps to take. One team is updating their data set so that we can revise the prototype. Another team has to determine what their actual measurement of success. So that we can source that information and then determine on what platform we would build the dashboard.

Each one of them expressed excitement in seeing more clearly how to present their work and having the deliverables in hand. In fact, in the delivery meeting, one of the marketing team members already gained new insights just by seeing the data presented visually. Ah, the power of dashboards.

The Benefits of Hiring Consultants

Using consultants can be very beneficial when you need to tackle something that you don’t know you don’t know or just don’t have the internal resources to handle or prioritize. The trick is making sure that the consultant is equipped to help you to define the appropriate outcomes and deliver on them.

At FieryFX, we are consultants and experts. And we know a thing or two about getting the most from working with experts. Plus, we’re experts in strategy, websites, analytics, smart business, and technology. Find out how to benefit from hiring an expert by booking a consult with us.