Embracing a data-driven marketing approach is crucial in today’s digital landscape. As technology prioritizes privacy, ensuring data is at the heart of your marketing strategy becomes increasingly vital.
To scratch the surface of optimizing your data and analytics, Dane Buchanan, Global Director of Data, Analytics & Tech, M&C Saatchi Performance joined Sam Edwards, Product Marketing Manager at Branch, to discuss the essential pillars for a data-driven marketing approach. Below are some of the key points they discussed, you can watch the full webinar here.
GENERATING VALUE BY OPTIMIZING DATA ANALYTICS
Data is at the heart of everything we do as a performance marketing agency. Why? Access to clean, well-structured data opens up a world of benefits to your customers and your bottom line.
SAM EDWARDS
PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER, BRANCH
“Data provides direction – and is the trump card of modern marketing.”
Research demonstrates that companies who adopt a data-driven marketing strategy typically enjoy a better return on ad spend (ROAS). Specifically, a study conducted by Google and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) indicates that best-in-class digital marketers see 1.4 times greater cost benefits and up to 2.5 times higher revenue impact as a result of their data-driven marketing efforts.
DANE BUCHANAN
GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF DATA, ANALYTICS & TECH, M&C SAATCHI PERFORMANCE
“At M&C Saatchi Performance, we leverage data to deliver targeted campaigns that resonate with our clients audiences. Our dedication to data-driven marketing sets us apart and keeps our clients ahead of the curve.”
WHAT IS DATA DRIVEN MARKETING?
According to Gartner, data-driven marketing is the use of data acquired through customer interactions and third parties to gain insight into customer motivations, preferences, and behaviors. These data-driven insights empower organizations to refine and tailor the customer experience.
A data-driven marketing strategy places actionable insights at the heart of your marketing campaigns. It enables you to better understand your customers’ wants and needs. With this information, you can deliver customized messaging and targeting, effectively managing the frequency, content, design, channel, and other aspects of the advertisements they encounter.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
“Data creates opportunities and insights into needs, desires, and behaviors with personalized messages,” says Sam Edwards, Product Marketing Manager, Branch. “Data also creates optimization and personalization which drives conversions – and conversely reduces churn and lost opportunities.”
High-quality data allows for the optimization of the customer journey, enables real-time campaign management, and eliminates the reliance on assumptions or guesswork. It offers personalization opportunities that increase revenue and enhance conversion rates.
“By integrating data-driven strategies into our campaigns, we’re able to deliver cutting-edge solutions that drive growth and maximize ROI for our clients.” says Dane Buchanan, Global Director of Data, Analytics & Tech, M&C Saatchi Performance.
However, data is often housed in silos and can be difficult to access. Additionally, managing data can be overwhelming and requires specialized skills, which not every business possesses. This means that making your data actionable can become challenging, but does not mean it should become less of a priority.
Even those with robust data foundations have to constantly adapt as customer data becomes increasingly essential and technology evolves. Luckily this is where specialist teams and technology can alleviate much of the burden on marketers by providing access to the insights and analytics needed to optimize their marketing campaigns.
WHERE SHOULD YOU FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION?
Many marketers feel pressured to include more data in their marketing – 87% of marketers say that data is their most neglected resource. Bringing data together and making it actionable is challenging – but now, more than ever, it’s vital to unify data for improved marketing results.
“Access to clean, well-managed, warehoused data is a huge opportunity,” says Sam Edwards, Product Marketing Manager, Branch. “2023 is the year of minimizing and optimizing data and getting to a single source of truth is the holy grail.”
Here are 4 areas you should focus on to become more data-driven in 2023:
- Make your data actionable
- Invest in incrementality testing
- Build a unified measurement framework
- Know how and when to use AI
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Building a data-driven approach to marketing is indispensable. Though the idea of this approach might seem daunting to start with (depending on the industry you work in and the products you offer) the opportunities it presents will pay off in the long run.
In order to kick-start your data drive approach a tech audit is often a good place to start. An audit can take a matter of weeks, show where there are gaps, and provide a reason to engage stakeholders to enable them to understand the importance of developing a data-led approach.
Contact us for more information about running a tech audit, set up an intro call with Dane, or for any other questions about how to use a data-driven marketing approach.
