Today's marketers have more data about their consumers than ever. But are you using that information?
Marketers who use this information to generate a data-driven strategy that better targets customers with personalised campaigns are seeing increases in sales and leads. Businesses that use data-driven strategies drive five to eight times as much ROI as businesses that don’t.
You need to be using data to drive your marketing, but what is the best way to do it? In this article, we cover why you need data-driven marketing and how you can make your data work for you.
According to Mckinsey, between March and August 2020, one in five consumers switched brands, and seven in ten tried new digital shopping channels.
COVID has changed consumer shopping patterns. Smart marketers are rethinking their data strategies to improve their precision and create more personalized targeting that will help them retain customers and beat out new competitors as consumer behaviours continue to change.
In the age of the empowered consumer, who has access to a seemingly unlimited number of choices, data-driven marketing allows you to better optimise your marketing efforts and create more personalised experiences using the flood of customer data you can collect.
However data-driven marketing doesn't come without obstacles. 87% of marketers say data is their company’s most under-utilised asset.
Data silos, inaccurate or outdated data, and complicated platforms that require extensive understanding and training to master mean that marketers are often not getting a 360-view of customer interactions and are unable to use data-driven insights to fuel their campaigns.
The total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally has increased rapidly. In 2018 the estimated amount was 33 zettabytes, that number has over tripled to 79 zettabytes in 2021.
However, this surge in data has not helped many marketers better understand their customers. A common frustration that marketers encounter is outdated data modelling that is unable to capture changes in consumer behaviour at speed. Marketers then end up implementing campaigns with inaccurate and outdated information.
How can businesses overcome this challenge?
Marketing is only as good as the data that fuels it. Implementing new data models but using the same old, outdated or inaccurate data will still provide you with ineffective results.
Smart businesses are taking a wide-angle approach to data collection. You can start sweeping up all the data you can get your hands on, that not only includes consumer behaviour but also location-based insights and competitor data to complement your own primary sources of data.
This robust data infrastructure, that pulls data from various reliable sources, allows for a 360-view of the marketplace and a deeper understanding of your customer. You can see where there are holes in your own primary sources of data and get the most up-to-date data to fuel your marketing strategy.
Data from reliable third party sources can also help you gain competitor insights. By comparing various sources of data, you can evaluate the strength of competitors' value propositions and see which tactics are having the most success with which audience segments. You can then provide tailored messaging and content to these audiences based on your insights.
Implementing tech that learns as it grows will help you make the most of your data. Technology that can have data inputted and then learn what works and what doesn’t with consumer messaging will help you create personalised messages for your audience.
To really push the boat out, you can start using AI to monitor campaigns and deliver responses to get a deeper understanding of your audience. AI will give you the power to look beyond simply what does work and what doesn't. You will be able to build a more detailed picture but understand timing, channels, and segment's impact on messaging.
We saw budget cuts across the board for COVID-19. But your marketing team will find it beneficial to look to spend rather than cut and invest in new tech. For many, boosting budgets will be a tough ask. So what is the alternative?
Reallocating marketing budgets. By cutting out channels that are underperforming and unproductive you can reinvest that money into analytics and data.
Marketing leaders can free additional investment by also reusing and repurposing existing assets. The savings can then be redeployed to fund data-driven growth programs.
Data-driven marketing is the future. Businesses that are upgrading their data systems are far more effective in generating revenue and putting systems in place that will help them scale and grow. Don't let your business get left behind and start making use of the data you have access to.
FInd out how MobileStreams can help your data work for your business. Contact us here
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