No article on marketing can ever be complete without the word 'data' being strewn through its content. When it comes to the latest marketingdiscussions, you'll find it hard to pinpoint even one that doesn't involve data-driven marketing. It is one of the hottest marketing techniques of today and marketers around the globe are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that data-driven marketing is one of the key steps to their success on both on a personal level and for their business.
Forrester surveyed 523 marketers, out of which a whopping 96% said that in that one of their most sought aftercapabilities is to make data-informed decisions for their marketing strategies. Even with surveys showing such results, a quarter of today's companies do not use data to make their decisions and around half of them say that they do not possess the right analytics capabilities to derive meaningful information from the data available.
To become a successful data-driven marketer, you need to be able to effectively obtain, analyze and apply data to in order to make moreeffective, better-informed decisions for your business. But this isn't as easy as it sounds! It involves an understanding of complex technical jargon, the skill required to draw insights from large sets of data and a certain level of expertise in mathematics. Added to these, here is a list of the essential do's and don'ts that will make you a better data-driven marketer:
DO Rely on Others
Learning the difficult ins and outs of data analytics isn't something that can be learnt in a night. Obtaining the real value from gathered data and applying it efficiently to your marketing strategies involves you to seek help from your internal IT team. They are the experts who can guide you how to effectively utilize the data you have. They can also give you the best of advice when it comes to the latest, most appropriate technologies that can be used in your data gathering and sorting processes.
DON'T Rely Too Much on Data
One key aspect to follow in data-driven marketing is that data alone does not have all the answers. Data can very much help you with better insights and more effective decision making, but it is not the beginning and end of all your marketing strategy. This can be reasoned with several aspects where data-driven marketing can go wrong. Data can easily be misinterpreted, which, as a result, will lead to poor decision making and hamper the progress of your business. Even with all the benefits it has to offer, data is ultimately a bunch of ones and zeros,which when interpreted wrongly by those who aren't fully experienced, can lead to serious unfavorable consequences.
Popular researches have reported that CRM degradation is approaching 2% per month. Data that isn’t regularly cleaned can lead to decisions and strategies that are either faulty, inaccurate or irrelevant. It is of paramount importance that you have a data management plan in place to help you clean up your database and update/enhance it by adding the missing pieces that prove to be immensely useful.
DON'T Rely On Only One Source of Data
Obtaining and analysing data from just one source does more harm than good. Businesses that use web analytics alone for their data analysis will be getting a one-sided opinion on the situation. In order to get the bigger picture, other sources of customer interaction must also be considered equally, data within your CRM and marketing automation systems for example. The good thing about this multi-sourced data analysis is that advanced technologies have been created to help you gather large, disparate data and analyse it to obtain a single, distinct view of customers and future prospects.
DO Start Small
Even with the exciting prospects and attractive benefits that come along with data-driven marketing, it can also be a daunting task, especially for a beginner. So it is essential that you start small if you are new to this marketing strategy. Take little steps, with familiarizing yourself with the data, testing them to gain an understanding; and then learn its various consecutive processes and results. Once you are confident enough with the basics, go a little more advanced.
Conclusion
There are attractive opportunities in data-driven marketing that can transform your customer experience and engagement with them. Make use of these tips to create a flourishing data-driven marketing for your business and set yourself and your business one step ahead of the rest.
About Us
Techno Data Group is b2b marketing firm in Wilmington, Delaware focusing on business success. We can help you targeting key accounts using real time verified data; we can identify your buying personas, analyze your existing database and fill in the missing information.
We work with some of the world's leading brands and Fortune 500 companies. We are proud to say that we are their preferred database partners.
