Why understanding data is essential in modern marketing – and what you need to know…
You might not know it but the data you’re using to drive your marketing is probably not as good as it could be – and the insights you’re gaining from it are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows what gems could be laying below the water!
If you can get under the skin of your data and know your customers better, the rewards are plentiful… more effective marketing strategies, increased sales and decreased costs.
Let us help you get closer to your customers.
The importance of ‘clean’ data
Clean data is data that’s consistent, properly formatted, and free from errors and duplication. But it’s also much more than that.
It’s about creating a clear Single Customer View (SCV), so you know each person at a glance. This isn’t a piece of software – it’s a process whereby we bring together all the granular detail from various sources and present it back in a structured, clean database, with a single record for each customer.
We can then augment the data with Interact (our proprietary view of UK consumers), visualise and analyse it to identify the perfect target audience. Then use marketing technologies to activate it and deliver more customers to your business.
Personalisation goes deep
Personalisation goes far deeper than semantics. Putting “Hi Poppy” in a subject line is one thing, but mining data to target customers with razor-sharp precision is another.
Insights from data have the power to give customers what they want. A simple example might be a department store sending an email about brogues to men, and stilettos to women – broadly speaking, it’s showing its customers what they want.
Similarly, you can use insights to encourage customers to act. With Nissan, for example, we've put in place predictive targeting to understand the migration from one model to another. Now we drive their marketing to push the purchase of a customer’s next model precisely when they’re ready to buy.
At the end of the day, the successful campaigns are the ones that target the right person, with right message, at the right time.
Useful data isn’t the same as insightful data
Traditionally, databases were used for record keeping and governance. That’s useful from a recording point of view but it’s not insightful – it tells you nothing about your customers and their motivations.
Nowadays, databases are specifically built with advanced analytics in mind, but there are thousands of legacy databases that weren’t. It’s much harder to get actionable insight from these systems, as the data is often held in complex, disparate silos, with clumsy technology and confusing user interfaces.
Don’t lose hope, though. It’s certainly possible, but you’ll probably need a partner like us to amalgamate – and even augment it with our own data – to create a marketing insight environment that gives you a much deeper understanding about your customers.
You might not really know your customers
How well do you know your customers? Very well, you might think. But your data might tell you otherwise.
Your data can inform segmentation beyond long-established assumptions. We’re often revealing surprising new customer characteristics and behaviours, and even new segments. We use these segmentations to learn about your customers’ behaviour and help you to talk to them better.
When dealing with data, you have to be open to the stories it might tell and prepared to meet the customers you had no idea existed.
You might be sitting on a data goldmine
“Data is the new oil!” Heard that one yet? If so, you might be mistaken for thinking that all your business challenges will be solved overnight because you’re sat on a mountain of it. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Data is inherently valuable, but just as oil needs refining, data needs processing before its true value can be unlocked.
The trouble is, so many companies own data, but have no idea what to do with it – or they’re using it, but not to its full potential. The answers to your business challenges do lie within it, but it’s a case of taking the time and having the expertise to find them.
Got lots of data but don’t know what to do with it? Keen to solve your business challenges? Curious to meet the customers you didn’t know existed? Don’t let your data sit there gathering dust. Let us get closer to it.
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