“In God we trust. All others bring data.”

I was interviewed on a podcast recently where I was asked what lessons I learned from my corporate experience that influence my work with entrepreneurs today. I didn't hesitate for a second before responding, "data."

One of my previous bosses instilled in me the importance of bringing data to the table whenever possible.

Want to invest in a new software platform? I'd better have a few case studies showing the impact the software had on a business similar to ours.

Thinking of reallocating budget dollars from one marketing tactic to another? I'd better have the historical data to show the expected outcome from that move.

I am incredibly thankful to have worked for someone who instilled this lesson regarding the importance of data. When I eventually moved on to another company, I realized that not all of the other marketers had this mindset around data. I was thankful to be known as the person who would bring numbers and articles and benchmarks to back up my position on a topic or idea that I wanted to try.

Now, I love bringing data to the forefront of my discussions with clients. Many entrepreneurs and solopreneurs have been in the trenches of their business for so long, it can be difficult to take that step back to look at the full picture, assess the data that's available and use it to make better decisions to move the business forward.

Assessing areas like website activity, social media engagement, email open and click rates, search engine optimization reports can provide a great deal of insight into what's working well and what can be improved.

So tell me, how have you used data recently?