I have a secret to share with all you marketing geeks out there…I know where all the cool marketers hang out! I spotted them one day when I was sitting in the back of a packed room full of analytics geeks, data science nerds, tech-savvy project managers, sales executives, and even a CEO or two. What were these marketers here to learn? Why were they here? And how are they so darn cool?
I have the answer! They were participating in a local Tableau User Group. What is Tableau, you ask? It is business intelligence software that is sweeping the analytics world off its feet. All the best marketers gather at these local Tableau User Groups to tackle awesome data challenges, including marketing, sales, and social media analytics.
Listening through multiple use cases, Tableau best practices and expert tips and tricks, these marketers have access to the best and brightest Tableau experts in the room. Everyone who has tried to analyze marketing data has felt overwhelmed: complex data sources, time-consuming manual data merges, searching for insights with pivot tables and archaic excel charts, etc. It can be daunting. This is why marketers turn to Tableau and why the Tableau User Groups exist! So what are the main benefits of attending a Tableau User Group as a marketer? Here are my three undeniable reasons:
1. Optimize the Game Changer
Tableau may be relatively new to the marketing world, but it’s definitely a game changer when it comes to analyzing data. Marketing data is often difficult to make sense of, especially when you want to see ROI across all your efforts. Tableau provides a best-in-industry visual analytics platform to report, analyze and make informed decisions on data from a single source, like a marketing automation platform, or with added data layers such as CRM, social, ecommerce, external appending services and many more.
With Tableau at your fingertips, you are leaps and bounds ahead of your competition in regards to analytics, but the tool is still only as good as the person using it! Your team will need a way to learn the tips and tricks for optimizing your Tableau analysis. That’s why Tableau has put so much effort into building their community. The Tableau User Group provides users with an outlet to answer all of their technical questions and inspires them with new and interesting ways to analyze, communicate and scale their analytics. You will walk out of a Tableau User Group with at least one great piece of information to help improve your business and prove your worth as a marketer. Just think about it: an entire room filled with analytic experts who have been through the same data issues as you. How awesome is that?
2. Set Your Marketing Team Apart
We’re all looking for insights that are going to set us and our business apart. What if you were able to hear how other companies stitch together data from their CRM and marketing automation systems to report on the creation and conversion of qualified leads? Would you be interested in seeing how it’s done and chatting with them afterwards at happy hour? Here’s your opportunity!
When you attend your first Tableau User Group, you’ll be amazed at how open the community is to sharing ideas and helping each other find solutions to difficult problems. They love to tell stories and challenge each other to do more awesome things with data.
Every user group you attend will provide real insight that you can immediately apply to set your marketing team apart. No question goes unanswered when you have a community who wants to genuinely help each other succeed.
3. Have Some Fun
The secret sauce for the Tableau community and its user groups is that they are really fun! Attending a user group makes you a part of an awesome network of professionals who welcome you with open arms. You’ll find lots of new friends and discover inspiring new ideas for your analytic initiatives. You’ll meet people who are passionate and excited about their jobs. The energy and excitement around analytics is ever-present at a Tableau User Group.
The Tableau community is an exciting one. Trust me. As a twenty-something, the last thing I want to do is sit in a hot room listening to starchy analysts walk through complicated calculations. These user groups are a cut above the rest in the analytics world, and the pure excitement and willingness to help is almost overwhelming. You won’t regret attending one!
Want to join the fun at a Tableau User Group near you? Here’s an interactive map of user group markets (built in Tableau) to help you get connected. Relationship One participates and helps plan the Twin Cities chapter. Reach out to us if you have any questions about user groups or about using Tableau as an analytics solution for your marketing team.
