Data Isn’t Just for the Big Players — Here’s How Small Businesses Can Use It Too
As a growth marketer, I’ve got access to an overflowing toolbox. Google Analytics, GA4, Hotjar, Semrush, the list goes on. Each platform offers valuable data in isolation, but the real power comes when you can bring it all together in one place, usually a CRM. That’s where the story becomes clear.
But here’s the thing, most small businesses aren’t operating with an integrated CRM setup. They don’t have dedicated data analysts or big-budget tech stacks. And that can make being a "data-driven business" feel like an unreachable goal.
This article is about breaking that myth. Especially at the top of the funnel, there are more ways than ever for small businesses to access and act on data, without needing to be a data scientist.
Where My Data Journey Started
I first really started using data back when I launched The Athletes Training Club, an online coaching business that’s since worked with hundreds of athletes around the world.
There was no CRM. No advanced dashboards. Just two key tools:
Social media insights – helping me spot what content drove awareness, engagement, and action.
Typeform responses – revealing the friction points stopping people from taking the next step.
That was it.
I wasn’t reinventing the wheel. I was simply looking at which posts got more eyeballs, saves, comments, and shares, and then trying to spot the why. What type of message was landing? What visuals were pulling people in? What call-to-action triggered the most responses?
On the Typeform side, I started spotting leaky buckets. People were clicking through to the application form, but only 5% were completing it. Why?
I didn’t guess. I researched. Typeform releases an annual trends report, so I studied it, found some learnings, and plugged those into my own form design. The result? Application completions jumped—without spending another penny on ads.
Dial Up What’s Working, Dial Down What Isn’t
Once you start seeing the patterns, it really is that simple.
Good data helps you take emotion out of the equation. It’s not about how you feel about a post, a form, or a funnel, it’s about what the audience is actually doing. That’s the lever. Once you know what’s working, it becomes a case of scaling that, and stripping out the noise.
Even the Big Dogs Are Doing This (Just Better)
What prompted me to write this was watching an episode of Behind the Diary, the behind-the-scenes vlog of Steven Bartlett and his team at Flight Story.
Now from the outside, someone like Steven can look like he just throws out content and watches it go vertical. But the reality is the complete opposite.
The Flight Story team breaks down metrics just like the rest of us—but with surgical precision. For example, they discussed publishing Diary of a CEO podcast episodes privately to a test audience inside a membership group before public release. Why? To study YouTube’s drop-off metrics.
YouTube gives you minute-by-minute retention data. If you’re seeing a spike in viewers leaving at 5:02, you can dig into what happened in that moment. Was the energy flat? Was the storytelling off? Was it a clunky ad transition? That kind of analysis lets you go back and fix it—so the public release is sharper and better optimised.
What’s the Takeaway?
You don’t need a 10-person growth team or enterprise-level tech to be data-driven. Most of the time, it’s just about:
Paying attention to what’s already available in the platforms you use
Spotting the patterns
Making small, consistent improvements
Data isn’t the privilege of the few. The tools are right there—you just have to look closely.
