How effective use of data and analytics can help marketers stay anchored to their customers’ changing reality.

Modern consumers are inundated with brand marketing and messaging. As a result, they have become increasingly discerning of which messaging they will engage with. When using a data-driven strategy, marketing teams can drastically increase the chances that their target audience will click on their ad, join their webinar, read a blog post, or perform another action that drives a conversion goal.

This type of marketing is different from traditional marketing in that it allows marketers to connect with customers in the right place, at the right time, and with the right offering. Traditional marketing involves a lot of trial and error when it is not supported by solid data and analytics. Data-backed marketing allows for further personalisation, enhanced targeting, and precise benchmarking so that marketers can continue to improve their strategies over time.

Data-driven strategies improve customer experience and brand perception, as it gives organisations an understanding of consumer needs and interests. They also improve conversion rates because the highly targeted messaging enabled by data-driven marketing is more likely to catch the attention of users.

While consumers still click on Google results and scroll through Instagram, they also email, call, text, and chat with brands. During uncertain times, in particular, consumers value direct communication.

The universe of data-driven marketing is vast, but there are essentially two types of data used in marketing: contact information and performance metrics. Capturing contact information allows marketers to track potential customers and target them through emails, paid social, other digital tactics, and even potentially phone calls or direct mail, such as catalogues. Tracking performance metrics, such as engagement, clicks, and page views, enables marketers to improve and refine marketing activities to more effectively reach high-value prospects.

Based on what a brand knows about its customers and their behaviours across touchpoints, marketers can design unique brand experiences customised to specific interests, preferences, location, purchase history and more.

The age of generic, one-size fits all marketing messages is over. There is still room for these big ideas for some brands, but for most companies, marketing messages must get more granular in order to be relevant enough to resonate with consumers.

The best way to get people’s attention is by tailoring content and online interactions based on their demographics, purchase history, online activities, and other information about them.

According to this Harvard Business Review article, data journalism is one thing many brands are missing out on to improve their content marketing success. In the world of traditional media, data journalism is one of today’s hottest trends, and big publishers like The New York Times and The Guardian are investing heavily in this form of reporting because they recognize its storytelling potential.

Summary. Rapid change is the new normal, and more than ever, marketers need to make decisions quickly that are nonetheless anchored in data. As a result, companies are pouring money into marketing analytics — last year, CMOs invested more in this category than any other. Yet, even as marketers bury themselves in data, they are getting an incomplete picture of performance and their customers.

In today’s uncertain economic environment, it is more important than ever to make decisions grounded in facts and connected to revenue. Effective use of data and analytics can help marketers stay anchored to their customers’ changing reality.

Even at Beagle Talent, we utilise data to make informed decisions, from knowing the right salary and rates to pay to the most effective internal processes and messaging. This provides us confidence in finding the right candidate every time.

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