Digital Analytics and Optimization

This month’s course, Digital Analytics and Optimization, helped everything come together in a practical way. Up until now, a lot of my focus in the Digital Marketing program has been on branding, storytelling, and building campaigns. This class shifted my mindset—it showed me how to evaluate whether those efforts are actually effective. I learned how to go beyond surface-level metrics like impressions and dig into the KPIs that really matter, such as engagement rates, foot traffic, or customer sentiment. One major milestone this month was earning my Google Analytics certification, which gave me more confidence in working with dashboards, interpreting data, and making informed decisions based on what the numbers are telling me.

These insights directly shaped the marketing strategy I’m building for Oo-de-Lally Coffee, my case study company. I used course concepts to set SMART goals like increasing awareness of their new location, improving seasonal drink sales, and boosting customer feedback. From there, I built out specific KPIs—promo redemption rate, average star rating, attach rate—and created action plans tied to each one. It felt good to move from abstract planning into something measurable and grounded. I’m now thinking more like an analyst and less like someone just creating content for the sake of it.

Looking back, this course tied together a lot of what I’ve learned throughout the program, especially around content strategy, consumer behavior, and campaign design. It helped me see the bigger picture and gave me tools to adjust strategy in real time rather than waiting until the end to evaluate results. I still want to sharpen my skills in presenting data clearly and telling the story behind the numbers, especially for clients or stakeholders who aren’t as data-savvy. But overall, this course made me more confident in my ability to build marketing strategies that are not only creative and value-driven—but also effective and measurable.