Performance Marketing: The future of marketing is not just digital, it’s data-driven.

When you hear that sales have increased for a business, you can’t help but be intrigued as to how they achieved it. In my case, I have always been struck by the success stories of companies that have managed to scale their profits without significantly affecting the consumer. On the contrary, they end up understanding the customer’s needs to such an extent that it becomes a long-term relationship. That was the case for Harry Rosen, a fashion company. I had the opportunity to be in a workshop organized by Wendy Greenwood Greenwood where Paul Michel , Director of Performance Marketing at Harry Rosen, explained to us their success story.

Paul emphasized that a marketer should always focus on driving measurable results when executing strategies to optimize campaigns, meaning to practice Performance Marketing. For those who haven’t heard of this term, Performance marketing is a form of digital marketing that focuses on measurable results, especially through online channels. Unlike traditional marketing, where you pay for exposure and hope for conversions, performance marketing allows you to pay only for the actions that matter to your business, such as leads, sales, or even downloads. This way, we can optimize campaigns based on data and feedback to maximize return on investment (ROI).

If we take advantage of data-driven strategies, we can create a seamless and consistent customer journey across multiple touchpoints, both online and offline. This is called omni-channel marketing, and it can increase customer loyalty, retention, and lifetime value. These are powerful and effective methods of digital marketing today.

So, how does this benefit us as marketers? We must demonstrate to shareholders that all invested resources have contributed to an increase in overall revenue. This is one of the main reasons why we should consistently utilize data-driven methods. Paul also mentioned that to improve our results, we need to comprehend the data and where it is coming from. What does this mean? We should continually learn about our customers and broader trends within the industry. By doing this, we will not only understand our customers but also anticipate their needs and maintain relevance.

Staying relevant, a topic Paul mentioned and a trending subject, is largely thanks to data. As marketers, we can now personalize our advertising campaigns to make consumers feel understood and valued by the brand. Staying relevant will create a “thumb-stopping” effect from an ad. With extensive scrolling on social media and competitive pressure from other brands, turning to data is the best choice to stay ahead. We can use several key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure its effectiveness, from Click-Through Rate (CTR) to Conversion rate, which will help us understand if the ads are relevant to the audience. We could also consider Share of Wallet as a KPI, where we know the amount customers regularly spend on a particular brand rather than on competition in the same category.

In the end, it all boils down to data and how we collect and process it. It has always been about data, but in the digital era, we have been able to translate behavior and needs into data. This allows us to understand our audience on a deeper level, drive better results, and ultimately, increase revenue, as I mentioned earlier. Therefore, it’s time to hone our data analysis skills to interpret complex data sets and leverage digital tools to capture consumers’ digital footprints. Data-driven marketers are not just trendy professionals; they are the future. As technology advances, the amount of data available to us will only increase. Effectively leveraging this data is key to staying competitive in the evolving marketplace.

Reflecting on all the information I have been gathering over the years and one of the reasons why I decided to go “back to basics” is that data is not just a tool, but a valuable asset. It’s the key to unlocking a deeper understanding of our customers and delivering strategies that truly resonate. As we move forward as marketers, those who can harness the power of data and are willing to adapt will lead the way in the digital age. The future of marketing is not just digital, it’s data-driven.