My first #ExpertSpeaks interview was with a SEO Expert. He shared his experience and key tips to excel in SEO. But, how do we measure the success? Digital Analytics come into picture for this task. Today, I have with me Mr. Himanshu Sharma (Digital Analytics Expert). In this interview with Himanshu Sharma, let us understand more about digital analytics and his journey in this space.
Who is Himanshu Sharma?
Himanshu Sharma is the founder of Optimize Smart (formerly SEO Takeaways). He is based in Scottland, UK. He has more than 12 years of experience in Digital Marketing and Analytics.
After completing his graduation in ‘Internet Science’, he has worked with several companies in his career and got his master certification in ‘Web Analytics’ from Avinash Kaushik. (Avinash is a renowned digital analytics guru).
Himanshu is the author of 4 best-selling books on analytics and conversion optimization. You can find out his books here.
He was also nominated for ‘digital analytics association awards for Excellence’.
I am fortunate to get this opportunity to talk with him about digital analytics and his experience.
Expert Speaks – Interview with Himanshu Sharma
#1. You have immense experience in digital marketing and analytics. From 2005 till today, you have worked at several places and founded Optimize Smart. Can you share your story?
I started my digital career in the e-learning industry and worked as a digital marketing consultant.
Then, I worked as SEO/Search marketing consultant for many companies before I founded optimizesmart.com in 2011.
#2. Analytics & data science are hot topics these days. As per Harvard, the sexiest job of the 21st century is “Data Scientist”. Are you just looking at analytics or data science too?
Only digital analytics. Not data science.
#3. What is digital analytics? Why is it so important?
Digital analytics is the process of analyzing and optimizing any online and offline footprints of a business, as long as they can be measured, classified or categorized and are used to optimize the online performance of a business.
The number 1 reason why most business owners and marketing professionals are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales is because they don’t know their numbers. The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for businesses because optimizers lack basic understanding of the maths & stats behind testing.
You know and understand your numbers through Digital Analytics. So the knowledge of digital analytics is something nice to have.
#4. What is the future of digital analytics?
Machine learning is the future of digital analytics.
#5. Should one learn digital marketing first and then proceed to digital analytics? Or one can directly learn digital analytics?
Marketing and analytics complement each other.
You can’t be good in either without a great understanding of both disciplines.
There is an old saying “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”.
But, what I have found after my stint in the world of digital analytics is that “You can’t effectively measure what you can’t manage”.
#6. What courses would you recommend to someone who wants to make a career in digital analytics?
I would recommend to join this free training class before enrolling in any digital analytics course: https://learn.optimizesmart.com/registration-web-class
#7. You have written several books on “Attribution Modelling”. Can you share in brief about what attribution modelling is all about?
Attribution modelling is the process of understanding the true purchase journey of your customers and determining the most effective marketing channels for investment.
#8. What according to you is the future of email marketing?
Email as a marketing channel is dying.
However, it won’t be dead anytime soon. So that’s the good news.
#9. What are your future plans?
Future plan is to scale my business to the moon 😀
#10. 5 tools that every aspiring digital marketer should learn
- GA (Google Analytics)
- Google data studio (now Looker Studio)
- Google Sheets
- GTM (Google Tag Manager)
- Facebook ad manager
#11. Please tell us about your “Web analytics training program”
Digital Analytics Implementation Program is made up of following three courses:
- Sales & ROI Accelerator
- Google Analytics Mastery
- and a brand new course on ‘Data, Maths & Stats Mastery ‘
The fourth course on ‘Google Data Studio’ is under production.
#12. On a lighter note, what do you do in your free time?
Sleep.
Watch YouTube videos.
Workout, go out for a walk.
#13. If not a digital marketer, Himanshu Sharma would have been a?
Event planner (but a bad one).
#14. Last one. If you are hiring for Optimize Smart, what are the qualities & skills you would look in a candidate?
Good knowledge of GA development environment + JavaScript.
(End of interview)
I hope this interview with Himanshu Sharma helped you. You can connect with him on social media.
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/analyticsnerd/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/analyticsnerd
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/optimizesmart/
If this interview helped you, please share it with your friends. Stay tuned for more such insightful interviews of digital marketing experts.
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