Hey there, I'm Kevin Hartman. I will be your instructor for digital marketing analytics in theory and in practice. I am so excited to be here, so excited to have you on this journey with me. This is a tremendously exciting time to be involved in digital marketing, and I hope this course will give you that foundational insight that you need to be effective in the space. Let's begin here with what this course is not. This course is not a deep dive into web metrics, statistical theory or research methods. I'm operating with an assumption that some of this stuff you're bringing to the table, some of the things you understand, and more importantly, those things that you don't, you can easily branch out into other courses to learn these things or even in some of the resources that we're providing. There are glossaries and others at the back that will give you good insight into metrics. We don't need to waste our time in this course really getting deep there. This is not a programming Workshop. Look, the use of tools, particularly something like a SQL, Python, are tremendously important for analysts working in the digital space. It's how we collect data and how we use data. But our time together is too short and too valuable frankly, for us to get really deep into programming. There are other courses that you can use to build that skill and capability, which again is very important. This is not the course for that. This is also not a series of product demos. It would be very easy for me to stand up here and just show you demonstrate different products in use. That would be a bit of a cheat. I think I cheat you over the experience that I want to provide in this course by giving you theory, giving you some hands-on application for sure, but not just a series of product demos. Then finally, you're not going to earn any accreditation and the tool. But believe me, we will talk a lot about tools, and we will talk about ways that you can evaluate the tool market and make the right choices for you as an analyst. Let's talk about what this course is, because it is a number of things. It is a marketer's approach to data analytics. I have been in this space for literally decades, always on the marketing and strategy, and those are the things that experience is what I want to bring to bear in this course for you. This is a healthy mix of theory and practical application. I don't want to just teach you how to do things, I want you to understand why you are doing things, and provide you with that framework and the insights that you need to make decisions. This is also an exploration of contemporary topics, issues, challenges surrounding analytics. As I said, this is a tremendously exciting time to be involved in the digital space. We will certainly explore those things as they stand today. Finally, and probably most importantly, what this course will do, what it is, is a primer on how you as an analyst can choose the right tools, use the most efficient analysis techniques, and present your message most effectively. Look, these are the building blocks of what it means to be an analyst, and that's what you learn in this course. Some of those objectives, I hope you will gain an understanding the motivations behind data collection that analysts use, the choices they make, the things that are informing their decisions as Analytics Professionals. I want you to understand frameworks and approaches to analyzing data, particularly consumer Data, which we'll talk quite a bit about. I want you to earn a familiarity with tools. As I said, tools play a tremendously important part in this practice, in this science. So we will definitely cover quite a few of them. I want you to have a good understanding of the contemporary Analytics and measurement opportunities and particularly those challenges because again, they are so important in this space today. Finally, I want you to learn approaches at effective data storytelling that is the most important skill that you can have. Being an analyst that can take a mountain of data and tell a story from it. That's what I really want you to get out of this course. Some things that are important for the analysts. Let's look at what should be in your toolbox. Frankly, no matter how advanced we've gone as a science, no matter how much Analytics has changed, Microsoft PowerPoint, Keynote, Google slides, these are still, the language of business. It's important for you to be able to translate the idea that you are collecting the stories you want to tell, and present those using one of those formats. Those are very important for us as an analyst. Excel, Google Sheets look, no matter how much data we're working with, no matter how much opportunity there is, there is still such an important role for tools like Excel and sheets as an analyst. Those are very important things for us collect. As well as heavy duty tools such as SQL, Python are looked, to do the transformative types of analysis that we want to do with all the data that we have available for us, these tools are critically important for you as an analyst. Choosing which ones fit your work will be important for you. Visualizing that data is also equally important. For here looks something like Tableau is just such a flexible free accessible tool that is important for us as an analyst to understand. If we are working in interactive data visualization, a tool called D3 is the gold standard for interactive data visualization and is something that we'll talk a little bit about in this course. Then finally, if you are doing really high level graphics and want to present things in the best possible light. Understanding the creative Suite from Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, how those can be used to effectively and quickly make really great client ready graphics are another set of tools that any analyst can consider. A few resources. There's a textbook that I've written, which really is the fruit of 25 years, decades of myself working in digital. Even before there really was a digital, I was working in the space. I've hoped to capture a lot of that insight as well as pulled all the way through into the contemporary issues around analytics, but I hope you enjoy and hope you find it engaging and valuable. There's another book that I think is really important for us as analysts understand that is a work called Everybody Lies by Seth Stevens Davidowitz. Tremendous insight into Big Data, that kind of digital data that we have available to ourselves today with a particular focus on Google search data and the importance there. It's a really fun read as well. Avinash Kaushik has produced a work called Web Analytics 2.0, which we'll get into the guts, the infrastructure of Data Analytics and I think a tremendous resource is well for any analysts to have. Anything, frankly from David McCandless will demonstrate how data can be presented in a beautiful way, in a way that makes instant connection with consumers and really inspire us as data visualization specialist and Data designers. Structuring the way that we approach data visualization. There's a couple of works I would recommend. One is a book called Good Charts, from Scott Berinato, which gives great process understanding and really frameworks for you as an analyst to use as you approach creating data visualization. Then a guide by a woman named Dona Wong, who was for years the lead head of Data Visualization for The Wall Street Journal. Dona does a number of things from initially while, but, but more than anything, she gives really great insight into the attention to detail that is needed as we are as analysts constructing data visualization. Then finally, if we are interested in interactive data visualization, if that is a place that fits the work that you do, D3 again, is the most important and practical tool for us to understand. There's a work by Marie called interactive data visualization that can help you build the skill that you need to be a successful D3 artist and to use that tool effectively. Putting all those tools and all those products in your toolkit that will make you certainly a better analyst. I am so excited to be here with you on this journey and to lead you through digital marketing analytics in theory and in practice.
