Everything about Data-Driven Marketing – why is it essential for every marketing strategy?

In today’s world all marketers have more access to consumer data at their fingertips than ever before, whereas sometime back most of the data and insights were primarily being generated through research agencies via surveys which required a huge amount of budget and fieldwork with consistent frameworks to review the findings.

It seems data is the most under-utilized asset for most of the organizations today but brand builders are now planning to increase budget spend towards data driven marketing. Whereas, companies that are using data-driven strategies are driving ten times more ROI versus the ones who are not.

Marketers are now blessed with abundant data, which can drive better results if utilized properly. So how do we get insights, how do we create a data-driven strategy to get the best results? Let’s have a look.

Firstly, what is Data-driven marketing? In simple words, Data-driven marketing is a marketing strategy that uses data which is extracted through customer interactions as well as third parties to gain a better view into consumers’ motivations, preferences, and behaviours. Marketers then create personalized messaging and customized experiences that deliver the highest possible ROI.

How can this approach be useful, what are the benefits? There are loads of benefits of a data-driven strategy. It allows marketers to get clarity about what your potential customer truly wants and use that information to convert it into a lead. You can also get information specific to why your campaigns were successful and why they didn’t perform. Usage of data-driven marketing eliminates the guesswork and allows you to make informed decisions about strategies you should choose to utilize. ?Personalization of messages to customers can make your product or service more authentic and credible, making the customer respond better as they feel it was meant for them and is not just another generic ad.

However, Data-driven marketing does come with its own challenges like the foundation you create for collecting, filtering and eventually maintaining your data may seem difficult in the beginning of the process, but it will eventually pay off immensely later if the right investments are made in the infrastructure and people. Collecting data may not be as easy as it sounds, you may need to be careful that the data being collected is relevant as well as reliable, plus the privacy laws and regulations also need to be in place while extracting data as they are getting stricter day by day.

Most reliable and usable data source with the challenges mentioned is first party data. Some of them include:

CRM Data (customer relationship management data) platforms like Salesforce are a powerful source of insights. A CRM gathers customer interactions across all channels into one centralized location. With CRM data, you can segment your audience based on all their past interactions with your brand and tailor their experiences to align their journey and buying intent.

Web Analytics Data which can include tools like Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics capture data about consumers’ interactions on your website. With this information you can personalize their experiences based on the pages they visited and online goals they completed. ?

Mobile App Data, which is similar to your website can also give you great insights in your consumers’ interactions with your brand. You can see how users spend their time on your app, their favourite features, common conversion paths and many more things. You can also use this data to optimize your app’s performance and personalize user experience.

Purchase history transaction Data, can also play a vital role. Capturing and leveraging data from transactions is critical. By reviewing and analyzing what consumers have purchased you can predict what they would be inclined to purchase in the future and tailor their experience accordingly.

Keeping in mind all these tools that can play a major part in developing your data-driven marketing strategy, here are some of the strategies and tactics ideas that can help any marketer.

·??????Use all available Data sources to inform ad targeting

·??????Segment your email list

·??????Personalize website experiences based on past interactions

·??????Use data gathered to bridge the gap with your sales team

·??????AI and marketing automation are more important than ever

To conclude, digitalization is really changing the ways and methods of marketing and is helping in making it more result-driven and effective. Data-driven marketing is one of them and can be used to drive stronger collaborations, better experiences and ultimately more revenue. So let’s embrace the changes and enhance our marketing strategy.?