Vitality of data in marketing

Co-authored by Moneka Khurana, Country Head – India, MMA, and Ashish Pherwani, Partner, Media & Entertainment, EY India.

From measuring bounce rates and cost-per-clicks to today's big data, data in marketing has evolved. It can enhance brand communications built on customer information. Consumers are now demanding a more personalized experience. Here, data-driven marketers can utilize customer data to forecast their requirements, wishes, and future behaviours. Such valuable information aids in the refinement of personalized marketing strategies for the greatest possible return on investment (ROI).

Importance of Data in Marketing

The current marketing journey demands data to know where your consumers are emanating from, what is generating leads, what message resonates with them, and what a typical buying cycle is like for your business. A consumer views a post on Facebook, follows the brand on Instagram, recognizes a new product, examines the latest associated blogs but does not buy until they see your advertisement pop up alongside another website. It’s a diverse user journey with much more complicated notions and typically includes various platforms and campaigns.

Most Indian organizations use a blend of 1P and 3P data for marketing, and most marketers were increasing efforts to build 1P data. The inevitable advantage that clients experience via data-led marketing is critical. They have presented performance stats, consumer demographics, reliable user experience, and advanced webpage interplay to generate revenue. Whether you are trying to increase customer loyalty and engagement, optimize your performance, or make pricing determinations, data in marketing is an essential tool.

Potential of Data-driven Marketing

Reliability - The primary and foremost section of the potential of data-driven marketing is reliability. Marketers are perceived as credible solution providers when they manifest accurate data on the applicable aids extended earlier to their possible clients; this indicates work reliability and dependability.

Solid Guidance - Data-driven marketing is beneficial and crucial for marketers to stay modernized with the campaign performance metrics. It also assists in forming favourable formulas that are prominent in securing high revenue via boosting sales.

Accurate Target Audience - Every enterprise has a collection of target audiences that marketers can detect via data-driven analytics. Channel-wise segregation occurs, and later with the productive utilization of comprehensive stats, audience-oriented promotional exercises are determined to intensify related traffic generation.

Success/ failure analysis - Sometimes, live campaigns do not deliver as per the belief or vice versa. Uncalled conditions can dramatically alter the coveted results, and marketers are well conscious of this fact. Hence, frequent performance data is to be collected to observe the success/ failure of any existing campaign.

Highly targeted procedures - Data-driven marketing strategies are very goal-oriented. The union of superior stats and worthwhile promotional plans work together to accomplish the target and maintain it for high ROI. Every data is a combined plan, covering minute features like audience interest, market trends, and fitting offers to produce a profit.

Data Challenges in Marketing

As per a recent report, 82% of Indian marketers saw the benefit of leveraging consumer data for marketing but struggled with robust attribution models. While there are numerous benefits of big data, it is also one of the most challenging issues to get right.

Diverse data practices - One potential cause of the disconnect is the chance to obtain data from a mixture of sources. Users’ perceptions are paramount, so the increased lag in data retrieval time will lead to a more significant disconnect. This disconnect is particularly challenging for marketers because its sequence makes consumer personalization less powerful. Companies often have a blend of systems that collect and prepare their data. Accumulating data from these disparate operations, often through varied channels, is a challenge that can quickly limit data analysis, endanger security and compliance, and hinder performance.

Flowing data sources - The difficulties in data are even more in the situation of streaming data. IoT practices can have hundreds of sensors, so the volume of streaming data can be quite troublesome, even on data systems. In addition to procuring the data, you also need real-time case processing to make a practical application of it. As marketers advance more and more in the hope of reaching a target public through IoT devices, they require cloud-native big data accessories to manage the influx of streaming data. Some streaming data, like GPS, website clicks, and video observer interaction, are directly associated with consumer behaviours that render vital marketing data.

Cross-department Collaboration - The three components of any successful transformation are characters, method, and technology. Technology is not the only hurdle with data in marketing, and data appropriation needs the involvement of different teams within an enterprise. Yet each separate unit expects its view and has its specific application of the data. Marketers can only profit from data if analysis of that data is convenient and productive. Big data and multi-cloud conditions make that achievable. It enables IT and other data management activities to apply their tools in their environments while proffering crucial information available to other departments.

Data Analysis will continue to play a prominent role in marketing as technology advances and information becomes more and more accessible. With data in hand, businesses can begin pivoting their approach and moving ahead in the best conceivable way for their company. Effectively controlling the trends and what people want to see, especially in processes that make sense for your company, is a must for marketers. Personalizing marketing purposes, holding events, and being present on platforms will further connect with your potential customers and develop better brand loyalty, all of which will contribute towards the successful and efficient engagement and application of marketing strategies.