Data + Marketing = Data-driven Marketing, But Is It Really That Simple?

In today’s world “data” finds itself in the heart of organizations. But its definition varies from one brand to another. For instance, the data definition of a company like Netflix is different than that of a retail company. But whatever its definition may be, there is one thing that we cannot doubt: Marketing is better with data. Data allows marketers to make projections and to analyze past behaviours in the most effective way. Before discussing how data can structure your marketing strategy, let’s have a look at the differences between “Big Data” and “Small Data”.

Simple & Focused Small Data: Ideal for Experimenting

Experimenting is one of the most significant success factors for today’s marketers, however, doing so requires a lot of effort and time for data manipulation. Small data, with its informative and noncomplicated façade – I’m using the word façade because the simplicity of small data can be highly deceptive when you look at what you can achieve by using small data in your A/B tests – helps marketers to find the right hypothesis for their future experimentations with little effort thanks to its workable nature.

Small data is data that is easy to understand and use. It is focused data; in other words, it is data in a small volume, usually static and in a format that makes it accessible and convenient for simple & fast testing. That characteristic makes small data valuable, because designing a test is not always easy, especially for today’s marketers who are constantly facing uncertainty.

This type of data impacts current business decisions and it does not aim to impact the business to a great extent. However, it can lead us to meaningful hypothesis which can be than empowered by big data in the future steps of the testing in question. Another positive aspect of small data is that it can be optimized manually due to its small size.

Big Data Simply Is…

Large chunks of structured & unstructured data. These complicated data sets need to be analyzed and given a meaning. That characteristic of big data makes experimentation difficult and even painful for marketers. Only with the right marketing architecture, marketers can really benefit from the potential of the big data that they possess.

The quality of big data is a “big” and an always waiting to be answered question. The quality of bought or scraped in the first-hand big data is hardly guarantied because it is data that is streamed at extremely high speeds with large volumes which needs to be aggregated in a short period of time. Unlike small data, manual data optimization is not possible, and it requires machine learning techniques.

From Data to Data-driven Marketing

Now that we have defined small & big data, we can start talking about the exciting concept of data-driven marketing. Data-driven marketing refers to strategies that rely on the collection and analysis of data which a valuable but often neglected output from every consumer interaction and engagement. It allows brands to connect with customers at the right time, in the right place and with the right offer. It also allows brands to create sophisticated personalization for their customers.

Data-driven marketing can never solely imply that organizations should empower their marketing strategies with big data. On the contrary, it insists on the importance of the combination of small data & big data. A healthy data-driven marketing architecture is based on the effective use of small & big data combinations. It also depends on intelligently connected customer touch points & engagements. Connecting these elements in the right way is essential to provide a powerful fuel, which is the data, for a sound & profitable marketing strategy which can be considered as one of the most important engines of an enterprise.

4 Significant Impacts of Big Data on Marketing:

• Client 360°

Knowing your customer is a must and the best way to do is to get a 360° view of your customer by empowering your marketing architecture with big data that you own. In other words, this hidden capital named big data, becomes the fuel of your marketing system. Having a 360° of clients helps marketers present customer-specific contents and constantly improving customer experiences. But at this stage, data means not only known CRM data, but also includes all unknown attributes and digital footprints as well.

• Engagement

Knowing how your customers see your organization and interact with you is a key factor in brands’ marketing efforts. Big data provides great insights about your improvement points & the things that are actually going great.

• Real-Time Data Leverage

In cloud computing environments, big data allows today’s marketers to take effective actions in a short while. With the right marketing technology stack, marketers are able to acquire, process and analyze real-time data rapidly to improve & nurture their decisions.

• Measuring Results

Data analytics derived from your big data becomes more useful than ever for measuring the effectiveness of your campaigns. Accurate results help marketers improve their past decisions & strategies in order to use them in their future campaigns.

But Where to Start?

Transforming your marketing architecture in order to empower it with the right tools and strategies nurtured by big data may sound frightening at the beginning for many of us. But the key thing to remember is that organizations who cannot adapt to constantly changing environments, are taking a huge risk of disappearing among their up-to-date rivals. With today’s resources & expertise, each marketing team has an opportunity to arm its marketing stack with the right tools & technologies without having to deal with technical issues.

As Labrys, we help organizations build a solid & sound marketing architecture empowered by data. Start today to shape your data-fueled marketing activities and reserve a one-to-one session with us now  to learn the amelioration points of your marketing strategy & to reveal the potential of your marketing architecture with the help of Labrys’ unique marketing expertise.