Are you interested in how data-driven marketing works?
Do you even know what data-driven marketing means?
Have you heard the term before? Have you been wondering if there are ways of tracking performance for your marketing?
If so, this blog post is for you!
We will be discussing what exactly marketing analytics involves.
The various tools that can come into play when it comes to analyzing information.
We’ll review how insights from these analytic platforms can aid you. As you strive to get ahead with your campaigns.
Finally, we need to understand that applying metrics when reviewing a campaign’s progress is crucial for success.
Let us delve deep together and uncover more about this business-critical concept.
Marketing Analytics: A Brief Overview
It’s tricky for those who aren’t familiar with marketing terms.
And the concepts of marketing analytics to understand data-driven marketing.
At its basic level. It’s about looking at customer behaviour as they engage with a business’s products or services. Collecting data from both virtual (digital ads). And offline sources (in-store purchases or telemarketing calls). Then use that info to get an idea of what customers want from your brand experience.
The goal is to have an idea of how people react to a brand.
This allows companies to come up with better marketing strategies. That focuses on specific demographics. Instead of generic approaches meant for everyone at once.
To do this requires powerful software designed for analysing data over time.
This helps marketers spot patterns allowing them to make adjustments. For example, launching new goods or entering fresh markets.
This means businesses know where best to direct their resources!
The Role of Data Analysis in Marketing
Data analysis is an essential tool for marketers to drive their efforts forward.
By reviewing their data, companies can develop strategies that will give them a competitive edge in the market.
Data allows them to uncover valuable insights. So they can make more informed decisions which lead to improved results. Getting feedback on how current strategies are performing. Helps businesses tailor campaigns based on individual needs.
As well as optimize ad spending across different channels. Or display ads compared with search engine optimization (SEO).
By tracking customer engagement through platforms like email, social media and SEO.
Analytics allow you to get into your target audience’s head. To create content that resonates with them.
This gives better returns from marketing expenditure. Without having to resort to drastic budget cuts. Which may be counterproductive towards reaching desired objectives over the long term period.
Being able to track key metrics over time provides invaluable insight.
Where resources should be best allocated. Helping to maximize budgets. Pinpointing potential areas of cost savings whilst still maintaining business goals
Measuring Marketing Success Is Critical
Performance measurement is essential for any successful marketing strategy.
It provides marketers with insights to spot and take advantage of opportunities.
It’s especially important today in such a competitive climate. That businesses understand how their efforts are performing. To stay ahead of their competition and boost profits.
Keeping track of key performance indicators (KPIs). Like website visits, and conversion rates. Customer satisfaction scores help you to review your successes and failures. So you can make informed decisions about where you concentrate your resources. In order to achieve the best results.
Do I have enough budget across these channels? Is one channel more effective than another?
Am I getting enough conversions or traffic back onto my site?
By looking at each activity’s return compared to others within a business’s “footprint”. It allows smarter decision-making when allocating budgets. And even which activities to drop off due to poor effectiveness/desired ROI returns.
Reviewing performance helps businesses spot issues upfront. Before they spend too much time & money on an operation by detecting flaws through data.
For example, website structure issues or poor content.
It allows you to fix them immediately. Rather than having costly problems further down the line.
Unpacking the Concept of Data-Driven Marketing
Data-driven marketing is becoming popular in the digital marketing world.
It means taking data into account when deciding how and when to target customers. This helps you figure out what consumers want or need with surveys and website visits. Or email opens, social media interactions.
Data-driven marketing isn’t new. But has become easier due to data analytics tools. Allowing businesses of all sizes to access loads of data at very reasonable prices.
This form of marketing lets companies spot patterns or behaviours. So they can run tailored campaigns for those likely to react as they would like. Getting better results than using untargeted methods!
The predictive analysis gives businesses a chance to market based on their existing buyers’ insights.
That is more efficient at reaching potential clients too.
For example machine learning algorithms (MLAs). Plus consumer demographic data. Together with past campaign sales history. Allows firms to build detailed models about who may buy from them right now.
Sending timely & relevant messaging while saving money!
There’s no universal approach to executing a great online strategy.
Though combining traditional techniques, with modern marketing. These will help any business to succeed without overspending. Making further analysis worthwhile if you want your business to reach its fullest potential!
Organise Your Data-Driven Marketing Data
All these concepts can make you feel confused,
All this data can feel overwhelming.
But it shouldn’t
You can split down your data-driven marketing into different pots.
Each pot can represent a different way you can promote your business. Mainly driving traffic to your website, check how well that is going. Then review your website traffic stats to see how things are performing “at the coal face.”
Let’s start by helping you understand how all this works together.
Visualising Your Data
It can be hard to visualise everything we’ve talked about.
Here is an image that I first saw in the book “Content Chemistry” written by the guys over at Orbit Media.
I haven’t seen a better way to visualise your website and business. And shows how each type of promotion helps to grow your business. Including how much effort and the potential ROI.
I like to think about my marketing data and split it into the following pots. Or pieces of the boat
Visualisation In The Real World
“Well that’s a nice diagram, but how does that look?”. That’s an excellent question.
How do all your “digital assets” piece together?
What does that actually look like in the real world?
That’s why I started Elementary Analytics. It’s not easy processing all this data, and seeing if performance is going up or down. Which part of the boat is pushing you forward?
Here is a screenshot from the early days of Elementary Analytics. Where we used our own product to track how well our marketing was performing.
OK, OK, I know the numbers aren’t great.
But that’s why it’s so important for you to look at your data, even when starting out.
You can see what is going well, and what isn’t. Where you need to perhaps focus your effort, even drop something altogether. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”, you can’t change something, or make improvements if you don’t know where to start. Tracking this data has become easier than ever, with tools like Elementary Analytics, it’s only going to get easier.
Website Traffic Analytics – (Hull of The Boat)
First, you want to start with your website traffic stats.
For me, if you don’t have a website, you don’t have a business. Even if you’re a local butcher, relying on footfall. Thinking, it’s not for me, my customers don’t care. Sorry, but you’re wrong.
My wife and I always buy a meat hamper for Christmas. Takes care of all the meat we need for Christmas day and most of the holiday period. Which we get from one of two of our local butchers.
Guess what!
We order it online months in advance.
That’s how important it is to have a website up and running and to track how it’s performing.
Analytics Tools For Monitoring Website Traffic
There are so many ways you can check your website traffic.
A lot of the big hosting providers like Wix, WordPress, SiteGround and Bluehost. Offer some form of website stats to you, but they are an afterthought at best.
Many of the big eCommerce platforms like Shopify do a far better job with their analytics than hosting providers. And give you a lot of data to boot. But these can be very inflexible and only show you data in a certain format.
Another option is to install a third-party tracking tool like Google Analytics or Fathom Analytics.
I always install Google Analytics on any website I’m monitoring.
Their new GA4 version is a bit of a beast, and not always the best user experience. That said the underlying data is extremely solid, and Google knows better than most about what makes a good website.
If you are already using Google Analytics to track your website.
Or are setting up a new project and thinking about what data to look at?
Check out our guide related to Google Analytics and the top 5 metrics you should look at when starting out. In fact, these data points are critical in helping you review your website’s performance long term.
Check these 5 stats on a regular basis to give you 80% of the data you need to track the success of your website.
Paid Ads Metrics – (The Motor)
If you’re looking to scale any business, fast.
Running a “successful” paid ads campaign, online, can lead to massive growth.
But, there’s a downside to this. If you get any of the moving parts that make up a successful ad campaign wrong. It can be expensive, very expensive. The ease at which you can spend money on the ads platforms is frightening.
That’s why monitoring your analytics and understanding data-driven marketing is critical.
Let’s say, you only look at your PPC metrics at the end of the month, you could have spent thousands and made zero sales. Not only could you be out of pocket, but you could be out of business too.
PPC Platform Analytics
Luckily, regardless of what ads platform you are using, it’s the same data you need to care about.
It doesn’t matter if you’re running ads to display in Google’s search results. Or trying to get people to buy from you using Facebook or Instagram. Even if, like me, you’ve tried Reddit ads.
There is a common set of metrics you need to track to ensure the success of any PPC campaign you are running.
Again, it’s only a handful of metrics you need to look at. Check out our Top 5 Google Ads Metrics, or Top 5 Facebook Ads Metrics guides to find out all you need to know to track a PPC campaign. So you can make tweaks and ensure its success.
Search Rankings – (The Sail)
I love SEO: Search Engine Optimization.
As you can tell, I love writing blog posts, so getting them to display in search engines can be fun.
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Google Search is one of the most difficult places to get your blogs to be seen. This is because there are 2.4 million searches on Google every minute, that’s 3.5 billion every single day.
No wonder people try to get their articles to appear at the top.
Unlike paid ads, appearing in search results, is a long-term play.
This stops many people from trying SEO because it takes a lot of upfront effort to get started. To rank at the top of the results can be nearly impossible if you’re trying to dominate a term such as “marketing”. Finally, there is no guarantee that a blog will even appear on Google or Bing.
Again, this is where the power of data comes in.
If you know what’s working, you can double down and repeat the successes. Google rewards you, for updating a piece of content that’s already at the top of the listing. Why write a new blog? Plus a single article can send traffic to your websites for years.
Wild!
Search Engine Analytics
Even though SEO and PPC are at the opposite end of the spectrum, “the boat” at it where.
Long game vs. short term, unknown success vs. instant results, Evergreen traffic vs. pay-to-play.
The two traffic sources are very similar in their metrics. You only need to look at a small number of metrics to see what’s working. The type of data, such as impressions, clicks, and click-through rate, are almost, in fact identical.
To give you an idea of how simple it is to track SEO performance. Check out the Top 4 Google Search Console Metrics to look at.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve only just launched a blog to help promote your business. Or been running a successful lifestyle blog since 2001.
These metrics will help you see what’s working.
Email Metrics (An Oar)
I love email marketing.
Even more so that over the last 10 years I’ve seen too many “marketing gurus” state that it’s “dead”.
According to a study in 2022 by Omnisend. For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $40.
Insane!
A quote I heard many years ago (can’t remember where I heard it, or who from): “If you don’t have a list, you don’t have a business”. Ever since then, no matter what new platform, tool or fad I get drawn into. I always come back to focusing on building my list of names and email addresses.
But what do you need to look at to see how well an email has performed?
Email Marketing Data
I’ve lost count of the number of email marketing tools I’ve tried in the last 10+ years.
It doesn’t matter if you use Mailchimp, MailerLite, Drip, ConvertKit or SendInBlue. Or even if you’ve set up automated email provers such as SendGrid or Mailgun to improve customer experience.
There are 3 key stats you can look at to see how well an email performed:
- Opens: how many of the recipients opened your email
- Clicks: how many people clicked a link inside your email
- Click to open rate: How many people who opened your email, ended up clicking a link?
Yes, there are other metrics you can look at. You may want to dig deeper into how an email may be performing.
But to see the overall success of a campaign. You can’t go wrong checking these three metrics.
Social Media Marketing Metrics (One or More Oars)
Ah, social media, love it or hate it, it’s here to stay.
Once people started flocking to social media platforms, spending hours there each day. Marketers began chasing them.
It didn’t take long for platforms like Facebook to start tracking what users did on their platforms. Meta is willing to provide data to people who are using their platform to promote a business, product or service.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is each platform has its own “analytics dashboard”. Different ways of displaying the data, or ways for you to export it. Places like Instagram only allow you to view your “dashboard” on a phone, which to me is madness and a terrible user experience.
What’s worse is every so often a new platform (think TikTok) takes the world by storm.
Not only do you have to figure out how to market on that platform. But you also have to learn how to navigate a new analytics dashboard.
It’s a nightmare.
Again, that’s another reason I started to build Elementary Analytics. I hated how each platform displayed data differently. And how they buried data, making it hard to find, extract, and ultimately understand.
At the time of writing this article, there were a few major players in the social media space, the “Big 6” as I like to call them.
Here’s a brief overview of each one.
Facebook Page Insights
Facebook isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Yes, younger generations don’t go on there, many don’t have an account.
But with 3 BILLION active users every month, you’d be a fool not to take it seriously. If you’re in the B2C space and you’re ideal customer demographics target older generations. A Facebook Page for your business could be an amazing way to reach new and existing customers.
Facebook has over 50,000 data points on a user at any given time, that’s a lot of data at your fingertips.
Also, the Facebook Page insights dashboard is one of the worst I’ve ever used.
I once tried exporting all the data from a Facebook Page I was monitoring into an Excel spreadsheet. After downloading it, I opened the spreadsheet and to my horror, it has 64 worksheets of data in it. Each worksheet has column after column of data inside them.
It’s just too much.
If you’ve recently set up a Facebook Page, or have had one for years. But never look at the insights dashboard (because it’s rubbish). We’ve put together a guide called The Top 5 Facebook Page Metrics You Should Look At When Starting Out.
Hope it helps.
LinkedIn Company Page Analytics
LinkedIn Business Pages are very similar in concept to Facebook Pages.
If you are in the B2B space then they can be an awesome driver of traffic to your website and business.
Also, they offer a far better user experience for both the visitor and marketers running the page than Facebook. Even the analytics section is good, and you can get some insights quite quickly.
The problem is how do you get the data out of LinkedIn and start comparing it alongside other data?
If you run a LinkedIn Company Page or are thinking about setting one up for your business? Check out this guide which will help you get started by looking at your performance.
Twitter Profile Analytics
I’m a fan of Twitter and probably spend the most time on the platform.
People say it’s toxic, I’ve not had that experience, because it is the communities I interact with.
That said, its analytics platform is like Facebook’s. It doesn’t have the sheer volume of data that Facebook does. But, using the dashboard and extracting insights from it can be a bit of a pain.
But many businesses, both B2B and B2C have found great success with the social media platform.
If you want to start using Twitter to grow a following on the platform and see how things are performing?
Here’s a blog I wrote about which Twitter metrics to look at.
Instagram Business Account Insights
I’ve already said that it’s crazy that you can only look at your dashboard inside Instagram’s mobile apps.
That’s a massive own-goal by Meta and the original owners of Instagram.
But, they have done a better job with the amount of data they give to you. As well as the sorts of data you have at your disposal. It’s simple to review how a profile is performing and if you’re funnelling people to your profile and website.
They do have some work to go with their post insights, but that is me splitting hairs.
Many eCommerce brands find Instagram an amazing way to promote both their brand and product. Check out which 5 metrics to focus on to make the most out of the platform.
TikTok Analytics
TikTok has taken the world by storm.
Love it (cat and dog fails), or hate it (because of dancing idiots). TikTok has gone from strength to strength and its organic reach is getting brands to run towards them as fast as they can.
Their creator and business tools are getting better and better all the time.
Unfortunately, their analytics platform seems to be lagging behind and shows very basic data, best at. The good news though, you can look at your analytics on both desktop and mobile which is a plus.
If you’re using TikTok to promote your brand, here are the metrics to look at to see how well you’re doing.
YouTube Channel Analytics
I’ve included YouTube in the social media part of this section, but it could be in the SEO section too.
It’s a bit of a hybrid, with pros and cons from both social media and SEO.
YouTube has a lot of common traits with other social media platforms. Like comments, likes, subscribe and follow. But it’s not as content-hungry, a video can perform well-driving traffic for years. Like written content. No surprise because it’s the second largest search engine on the platform. Oh, and it’s owned by Google.
Again the problem is you don’t know how well a video will perform. So upfront effort doesn’t guarantee success.
That’s why it’s important to track a few different metrics on a YouTube channel. Likes for example so you know which videos are doing well (ranking). As well as subscriber numbers to make sure the content engages people (following).
Here are the Top 5 YouTube Metrics to track for your channel.
Harness the Power of Data-Driven Marketing
Lets review.
Looking at marketing analytics and implementing data-driven marketing. Is the practice of utilizing data to inform decisions and maximize ROI.
To do this, you need marketing insights.
An idea or concept that you can use as a tool for creating strategies or improving reach.
You must understand it in-depth. Research its origins and implications before applying it in your campaigns. Research what successful brands have done with similar insights. Test different approaches on various channels until one works best for your brand.
As well as understanding your insights.
Look at how they interact within the context of your strategy.
Start by looking at customer behaviour patterns. As well as potential risks associated with the implementation of a strategy. So informed decision-making occurs based upon available evidence rather than intuition alone.
Finally, to use insights to their fullest.
Track performance metrics over time. So continual refinements are possible if actual results don’t meet the goals you set. This gives people more control over resources. While allowing marketers visibility into which tactics work best towards desired objectives
Selecting the Right Analytics Tool for Your Business
An understanding of the marketing data of your business is essential for successful campaigns.
Figuring out what type of customers are engaging with you. How they respond to your efforts. What results you are getting from campaigns? A suitable analytics tool can help you do this.
Choosing the right one has its challenges.
Different tools offer various insights into customer behaviour.
It’s important to choose based on what kind of data you want to gain actionable insights from. Do want detailed analysis about website traffic or social media metrics?
Google Analytics may be best suited for you then.
If you want more comprehensive consumer trend data. Something like Sprout Social would work better instead. A traditional CRM system such as Salesforce. Could help you track sales performance over time too!
Once you’ve figured that bit out though there are still other things to consider.
Such as cost-effectiveness, ease-of-use and scalability. Which should also factor into any decision-making process, before coming up with a conclusion. The cost will vary depending on the amount collected/analyzed.
Plus cheaper options won’t give as much detail. Quality matters more than quantity here folks!
Don’t forget about usability either.
There’s no point picking software staff aren’t comfortable using. The wrong results will come back. Leading to bad decisions further down the line.
Scalability is crucial when selecting analytics tools. Since those offering extra features (e.g. insight emails or client dashboard.) This means staying ahead in today’s competitive marketplace
Pros and Cons of Common Analytics Tools
Analytics plays an important role in marketing.
It enables businesses to gain insight into customer behaviour. Track campaigns and measure ROI.
A variety of analytics tools are available for businesses to select from. All with different advantages and disadvantages.
Google Analytics is a popular tool used by marketers. It has a wide range of features that enable it to analyze website traffic. As well as user behaviour.
You can track over time Page views, bounce rate and average session using detailed reports over time. While this tool may be great for more experienced users. Google Analytics does need technical knowledge. Which could make use difficult for less technical people individuals.
Adobe Analytics (known as Omniture) is another choice among digital marketers.
Due to its ability to provide comprehensive reporting across many channels. Such as websites, mobile apps or social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. Segmentation capabilities allow the marketer to identify different audiences. Based on criteria including the geographic location or device type.
Adobe Analytics is very expensive compared to other tools that currently exist.
Social media analysis offerings have become sought after by content producers. They want to know how their material performs throughout various stages. Comments, likes, shares or retweets.
These solutions offer help in identifying what works best for a target audience. So future strategies can tailored. However, they often lack the capacity to compare performance across several channels at the same time.
Something organizations usually demand if conducting cross-platform activities.
Before investing in one. You should consider if a potential acquisition would suit those requirements.
Case Study: Successful Application of Marketing Analytics
Marketing analytics is an invaluable asset for businesses.
Businesses that want to gain a better understanding of how their customers behave. And to make more informed decisions.
By using the right tools and techniques. It’s possible to get valuable information from the data. Allowing companies to improve their strategies and get better results.
Let’s look at how powerful marketing analytics can be in driving success.
Here’s one case study where a company got a lot of success after applying these concepts.
This particular company was an online retailer. Who wanted to boost its digital presence. They wanted to learn more about customer purchasing habits. And the interest levels for some of their products.
Overcoming Challenges
Their challenge was a lack of access to real-time analysis.
This was down to limited resources and the infrastructure available for any analysis.
They took advantage of free marketing analytics tools. Which solved this problem at a low cost. Google Analytics was the first tool that they set up.
It didn’t take long before they detected what items were most popular among users.
They based their analysis on the frequency of searches performed each day.
This gave insight into which promotions they should focus future efforts towards. Also analysing traffic to website visits over time. They identified when traffic peaks usually occurred. And found certain days and times had more sales of certain products than others.
They then doubled down and focused campaigns on targeting the right people at the right time
This created higher engagement across all channels.
Leading higher sales numbers!
With the tools mentioned above. The business managed to transform its strategy. Without imposing negative impacts on user experience or straining financials too much
This shows why using a marketing analytics tool is essential to help you reach your targets.
Best Practices for Implementing Data-Driven Marketing
Marketing analytics is becoming a must-have for businesses.
To capitalize on customer engagement, ramp up sales and create loyalty.
By using data-driven insights. Businesses are able to make smart decisions that allow them to reach their goals. However, implementing marketing analytics requires a well-thought-out plan. Consisting of effective best practices to ensure success.
Data collection is one of the most important aspects of the process.
Get this wrong at the outset and the whole process falls down.
Collect data from reliable sources. Be sure that the information gathered is correct. This means integrating data points from different platforms. Social media, website activity, search ranking for example. To gain a comprehensive understanding of customers’ views & actions taken.
It’s crucial marketers outline clear goals in regard to what needs to be achieved via analysis.
Without these, it’s hard to assess whether particular initiatives have been successful or not.
Also having a timeline set allows tracking progress easier. Stopping occurrences where something may fall through the cracks. The implementation process can occur across many departments within an organization.
Once you’ve collected everything and started analysing.
This can provide valuable insight into consumer behaviour.
Slicing data into different segments. Such as age, group, gender, or interests. Help you tailor campaigns toward individuals with similar behaviours. Increasing chances of getting better results before investing too much time.
Knowing why certain methods our performed by others. Can be the difference between stagnant growth. Or a positive trajectory moving forward.
Trends and Future Directions in Marketing Analytics
As I’ve been discussing
Marketing analytics is a process of gathering and measuring data.
The performing analysis to inform marketing decisions.
I can’t state how important it is in any business. As it helps marketers understand their customers better. To improve the ROI of their marketing campaigns.
Recently, due to access to data & technology tools that measure performance.
There has been a greater on this area. Which has brought forward novel trends and influenced the direction of data-driven marketing.
Yes I’m talking about A.I
One trend involves predictive analytics.
This is where AI-based algorithms look at past records and spot patterns. This data is then used for forecasting things like customer segmentation & target selection. Campaign optimization and market projection.
Another trend that is being adopted is personalization.
This method alters content/messages by taking into consideration individual user biases.
These range from emails or social media interactions. And data from other sources. For example which webpages they’ve visited. To serve customised material at certain times during the journey.
Socially too we are seeing increased attention given towards understanding audience responses.
Plaforms like Facebook and Twitter. Through metrics including likes, comments & shares. Are helping brands adjust tactics within that platform.
While leveraging Artificial Intelligence to track these engagement levels. Which gives meaningful insight, not attainable by hand.
Conclusion
To wrap up.
Marketing analytics and data-driven marketing are invaluable tools.
It allows companies to gain a greater understanding of their customers’ behaviour.
By leveraging data-driven market information. Businesses can gauge how successful a campaign was and further enhance it based on these findings.
With analytics tools, organisations are able to analyse customers’ data.
Gaining an understanding of what drives them. Such insights enable firms to take advantage of the chances that present themselves. This improves performance analysis while keeping your business ahead of your competitors.
So have you made full use of all the benefits that come with marketing analytics?
BONUS: Common Acronyms In Data-Driven Marketing
ROI stands for Return On Investment and it’s a measure used to assess how much money is made or lost from any given investment in comparison with its cost. Marketers pay particular attention to this metric when they’re evaluating performance.
CPC means Cost Per Click, which looks at how much needs to be spent on digital ad campaigns such as PPC (Pay-Per-Click) if you want to acquire new customers. Finally,
CPA stands for Cost Per Acquisition – similar to CPC but instead measures what it costs per acquisition rather than click. CPA can be beneficial for keeping an eye on long-term returns on investment from activities such as email marketing or lead generation initiatives.
CTR which stands for Click Through Rate is a way to measure the percentage of individuals who click on an ad or link after they have seen it in some form of content like emails and so forth. A good CTR could mean that your material was engaging enough to inspire people to take action on it.
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management Systems. They can be a great help in managing customer relationships. They allow you to store all the customer info together and automate certain tasks such as sending out reminders about upcoming deals or activities they might want to take part of.
SEO Search Engine Optimization (SEO), on the other hand, is an approach used by marketers for their website’s visibility in search engine results pages like Google and Bing. Basically, it’s optimizing your content according to their criteria so that when someone searches using related keywords, your site shows higher up on the list – for example, if you have blog posts covering relevant topics within your niche or market area. So how do we make sure our websites stand out?
KPI Key Performance Indicators. KPIs give a means of measuring progress when it comes to goals, objectives as well and performance standards. They provide marketers with a graphical representation of advancement over time and may help figure out areas where more effort might need to go into. Have you ever thought about how precisely these key performance indicators influence your business? Do they have any real power over opportunities or outcomes?
