Data: A Crucial Part of Any Marketing Strategy

It’s estimated that individuals in the US are exposed to between 4000 and 10,000 advertisements per day. Despite all that input, however, people generally retain a maximum of 3 messages.

If you’re a marketer, you know how challenging it is to craft the perfect message for your audience - ensuring it is both authentic and personalized. In fact, Salesforce indicates that 52% of consumers, and an even greater number of B2B buyers, say they’re likely to switch brands if a company doesn’t personalize communications to them.

The Problem with Traditional Marketing

Knowing your audience is the key to effective communication, but a lot of businesses still produce broad, blanket messaging in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ style. The issue with this is that not everybody wants the same thing for the same reasons – you wouldn’t describe a smartphone to an 18 year-old the same way you would to an 80 year-old, even though they both have a use for them.

Research by AppNexus shows that 97% of campaigns lack a targeted creative component for each audience segment. The majority of businesses are using generalized campaigns with the hope that their messaging will stick across individualized groups.

Infographic from Big Data Made Simple

According to Hubspot, over 60% of global consumers have changed their shopping behaviour for reasons such as value, availability, and convenience during the pandemic. Brand loyalty is decreasing among consumers, and the risk of losing a customer to another brand is at an all-time high. In fact, 78% of customers will only engage with offers if they are personalized to their previous engagement with your brand.

To succeed in today’s volatile business environment, your organization can no longer rely on reactive or opinion-based marketing. You need to adopt data-centric marketing practices that put personalization at the forefront.

What is Data-Driven Marketing?

Data-driven marketing essentially helps you become more strategic and pointed with targeting, processes, and tailored messaging by leveraging data. Rather than guessing, going off a gut feeling, or even using some specific market research, you can determine ideal customer personas, become predictive around future audience targets, and use a science-backed approach to create messaging that will resonate with a specific target.

And we're not just saying these things based on a guess or gut feeling either – Gartner predicts that by 2025, 60% of B2B sales organizations will transition from experience- and intuition-based selling to data-driven selling.

The Benefits of a Data-Driven Strategy

1. Personalization
   According to Invesp, 83% of marketers with data-driven campaigns enjoyed more than 5x the ROI on marketing spend and exceeded revenue goals. Personalized marketing provides your consumers with an improved experience in the form of relevant content.
   
   
2. Targeting & Segmentation
   You wouldn’t talk to your grandma the same way you’d talk to your best friend (unless, of course, your grandma is your best friend). With data steering the ship, you can tailor your messaging to the appropriate targets and ensure optimized segmentation.
   
   
3. Time & Clarity
   With automated, data-validated processes, your organization’s increase in internal efficiency can give you more time to put your customers first. In fact, Digital Authority states that 67% of marketers believe that speed and accuracy are the primary benefit of data-driven marketing.

Why You Need a Data-Driven Marketing Mindset

Not only does a data-driven approach benefit your consumers, according to Forbes, companies who adopt data-driven marketing are six times more likely to be profitable year-over-year. In fact, Forbes also reports that leaders are three times more likely than laggards to say they have achieved a competitive advantage in customer engagement/loyalty (74% vs. 24%) and almost three times more likely to have increased revenues (55% vs. 20%). Data-driven marketing allows your organization to maintain a competitive advantage and lead your industry.

“64% of marketing executives ‘strongly agree’ that data-driven marketing is crucial in the economy” - Forbes

McKinsey’s recent study on consumer sentiment and behaviour changes due to the pandemic highlights the following trends:

• Consumers aren’t rushing to empty their wallets. Due to the financial uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and business closures, consumers in all generations are reconsidering their spending habits. In the U.S., 31% of consumers plan to buy less expensive versions of items in order to save money.
  
  
• We’ve become homebodies. A staggering 70% of consumers don’t want to resume activities outside of their homes just yet. And if consumers won’t leave home to work, travel, or dine out, it’s safe to say they won’t leave home to shop.
  
  
• Value is key. The beginnings of the pandemic showed the effect of perceived value on purchasing. Consumers rushed to purchase essential products, causing major supply chain disruptions and shortages around the world. Even now, 21% of consumers plan to do more brand research than in the pre-pandemic era – people are becoming more careful about what they buy.
  
  
• E-commerce has grown. Online shopping and purchasing options have developed a larger role in consumer purchasing decisions. Additionally, at least 30% of U.S. and U.K. consumers expect to make more online purchases, even after the pandemic, a strong indicator that online shopping is now crucial.
  
  
• Brand loyalty is strained. Over 75% of consumers have changed brands at least once during the pandemic, indicating the need to ensure your messaging conveys real value to your audience.

The customer is the crown jewel – data is the crown

External data is the key to becoming a predictive marketer – targeting the right people at the right time with the right message. Not only will your marketing resonate better with your audience, but you’ll have measurable results and may even discover new, untapped markets. A data-first approach allows you to build a holistic, informed marketing strategy.

Now that you understand the value of data-driven marketing, here’s a list of data providers to get you started available on our Namara Marketplace:

• Consumer Behaviour Trends: Prosper Insights & Analytics datasets allow you to create personas based on consumer intention and attitudes concerning shopping and media use. See the datasets here.
  
• Consumer Spending Habits: Drop disrupts traditional loyalty programs by integrating directly with consumers. Tap into aggregate information on 300+ brands, anonymized transaction data, online and offline purchases, and more.
  
• Consumer Sentiment: RIWI gives you access to fast-changing consumer and citizen sentiment in all countries. Their datasets allow you to reach the most diverse audience, even the disengaged and quiet voices. Take a look at their High Frequency Economic Data Stream for insight into the demographic and spending profile of consumers all around the world.