If data were water, then many marketers are trying to drink from a fire hydrant. Even within the marketing department alone, there’s an impossible amount of information for one person to keep track of day in and day out.

Here are two more secrets, pull from our executive brief “7 Secrets of the Data-Driven CMO,” that will help you get the data you need without drowning from an information overload:

Secret #1: Manage by Exception

Some CMOs feel like they should be looking at every number in every report. But that level of engagement doesn’t make you “data driven”—it just makes you exhausted. The CMO who fails to manage by exception will inevitably flounder in a self-imposed deluge of data.

Instead of looking at every metric, try engaging only in situations where actual results differ significantly from planned results. Cost per conversion too high? Dive deeper into the numbers. Is it right on target? If so, let the campaign run its course.

You should be able to receive real-time alerts when there are anomalies, and rely on your team to manage the details when there aren’t.

Secret #2: Measure the “Unmeasurables”

Engagement. Buyer attitude. Branding. While they’re some of the most pressing elements of marketing, nearly all marketers struggle with how to measure them. The data-driven CMO doesn’t balk at this challenge, however. The data-driven CMO measures the unmeasurables.

Take brand awareness for example. For many marketers, this has always been one of the more changing things to quantify. However, measuring the so-called “unmeasurables” isn’t as hard as it looks. To measure brand awareness, the data-driven CMO can track things like brand mentions on social channels, traffic from branded search terms and direct visits to their corporate website. In aggregate, these types of metrics give you quantifiable insights into otherwise amorphous concepts.

So measure away, marketer. Measure away.

Get the full executive brief on our Learn Center, here.