While big businesses can rely on their name recognition and their multimillion dollar advertising budgets, smaller firms do not have that luxury. For small business owners, every marketing dollar matters, and optimizing customer outreach is an essential part of running a successful enterprise.

In a recent blog post for Salesforce.com, CMO Stephanie Buscemi wrote about the need to understand how to know your customer better than the competition. In her post she writes, "In this 24/7, data explosion world, companies are struggling to know their customers so they actually have a chance at meeting these heightened expectations at scale."

Marketing analytics can help small businesses level the playing field, but only if these powerful tools are used properly. By helping small business owners identify who their best customers are, what they are looking for and what they are thinking; marketing analytics can boost profits, improve customer satisfaction and make brand building efforts more effective. Here are four actionable tips small business owners can use to make the most of market analytics.

#1 Monitor Traffic in Real Time

The online world moves quickly, and without real-time monitoring you could miss out on potential problems or fail to spot emerging trends. If you are not monitoring your website traffic in real time, you are not making the most of market analytics.

#2 Understand Your Website's Role in Your Business

No matter what the business, a quality website is an absolute must, but the role of that online presence will vary widely from firm to firm. If you run an online store, your website is your business. If you own an auto repair shop, your website may be little more than a source of basic information on your hours and location. Knowing how customers use your site is a key function of market analytics, and one you should be using regularly.

#3 Prioritize Actionable Data

It is easy to get caught up in minutiae when analyzing customer data, but not all information is equally valuable. If you want to make the most of your data analytics tools, you need to focus on actionable information. Prioritizing items you can change will help you improve customer service, develop complimentary products and services and boost your bottom line.

#4 Make the Most of the Tools You Already Have

There are dozens of analytical tools on the market, all competing for your small business dollars. But not all of those tools are equally valuable or even necessary. Before you spend your limited advertising budget on new tools, make sure you are using the ones you already have. A few simple tweaks could make your existing market analytics tools more effective, saving you money and improving the operation of your small business.

As a small business owner, you are solely reliant on your customers for income, and if you fail to serve your customers, you could find yourself out of business. If you want to improve customer service and boost profits, knowing your customers is a good place to start, and that is what market analytics is all about. The four tips listed above can help you optimize these powerful tools, so you can focus on customer service and growing your small business.