Since the first installment of this series was published, the dynamic world of big data has assuredly already seen some new innovations — and grown even bigger. So, what better time than the present to start outlining your own strategy? This second installment will give you a jumpstart on using big data to upgrade your current marketing and sales strategies.
It’s not the sauce itself — it’s the secrets in the sauce
Simply having access to big data doesn’t automatically make for better marketing, but it can lead to it. It’s not the big data itself that is so revolutionary, but rather, the insights gained and decisions made from analyzing that data. When combined with a thorough integrated marketing strategy, the right type of big data can help conquer several core marketing goals, including:
Customer engagement
Customer retention
Performance marketing and optimization
In this overwhelming, endless sea of data, how do marketers know which types of data will help them gain the insights they may not even know they need? First, they take a deep breath and think about:
Asking big data type questions to reveal the opportunities the business may be looking for — if you could know any one thing to help improve strategy and results, what would it be?
Pose “if, then” questions to yourself and others on various teams. For example: “If I could know more about the effects of social media video posts, then I could improve my own advertising creative.
”Considering what types of data are actually available —is it a big business problem that needs immediate solving, or can you be more innovative and look at smaller targets? The three types of big data to consider are:
Customer: behavioral, attitudinal and transactional metrics
Operational: objective metrics measuring the effectiveness of marketing processes versus marketing operations
Financial: data types that are objective in measurement, such as: the disposable income of your consumer base, historical purchasing habits with the brand, or the financial health of the organization
Deciding if the business has the internal resources to tackle all this data or if external tools are needed, and of so, which ones would serve your type of infrastructure best?
Honing in on what types of insights are to be gained from the type of data you choose to investigate. How will you then disseminate and use them across the various teams contributing to the marketing strategy?
There’s a recipe for success for all
Of course, only your business can decide what exact problems it needs solved by big data, and that requires careful consideration and planning. But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to get started; rather, investigate what others in your industry have been doing with big data and perform a deeper exploration of the steps and concepts that may apply to your marketing strategy. Here’s a few to get you started:
Fine-tune your proposition and your audience.
Implementing big data infrastructure allows you to exponentially expand the amount of information fields you collect on prospects and customers, and enables the sales and marketing teams to further customize communication and content. Learn how to better match the most qualified sales reps to target particular demographic segments, improving close rates and customer satisfaction. The more personal and unique the digital relationship becomes, the more your teams can more successfully engage current and new customers.Identify the specific content and messaging to move customers down the funnel.
Using big data tools like content scoring, Buzzsumo, Google Trends, and Spyfu, you can understand what type of marketing messaging (whether it be advertising, social, etc.) was most effective for conversion, and iterate marketing strategies to incorporate those content topics or types.
Transform standard opens and clicks into real lift
Choosing the right email marketing partner, you can spin your years of email campaigns and carefully maintained customer lists into higher engagement and significant lift. Using customized algorithms to analyze a combination of transactional, product and customer data, along with purchase intent and behavior, marketing experts like SellUp can offer valuable insights into your audience’s engagement activity. After segmenting your shoppers by activity and purchase history, combined with recency, your email marketing campaigns become much more refined and effective in terms of who should get what email and when. Considerably and noticeably more powerful than the traditional strategy of looking at these factors individually, companies like SellUp can help provide the mathematical analytics and insights to deliver a lift of over 200%.
”Turn big data analytics into both SEO and offline insights that are actionable through more refined PPC bidding and traditional sales call methods.
Combining click-to-call with call tracking analytics makes it possible to see exactly who and where your best leads are so you can refocus marketing efforts in those areas. Furthermore, by integrating click-to-call tracking with your bid management software, you’ll gain valuable insight as to which keywords lead to the most offline call conversions, giving you more data to adjust PPC and SEO campaigns, ultimately maximizing returns on ad spend.
Find the largest gaps between what customers desire and what your competitors are offering.Not only can big data lead you to profound insights into what your audience wants and needs, but it can also provide actionable analytics showing how you can fulfill a need or want more easily — and better — than a competitor is able. Combine your previous market research into the weaknesses and capabilities of your competitors with the power of big data for your next big marketing win.
If you’re getting into big data for the long haul, it’s going to be quite the feat to integrate and implement on your own. Begin with a clear understanding of how your business can start leveraging big data and then procure an expert partner, like SellUp, who can outline how to immediately capitalize on the lowest hanging fruit to accomplish your objectives. With these kinds of data specialists, you can be well on your way — within a quick 2 to 4 months — to turning previous marketing losses into wins, validating claims and trends, optimizing messaging, and maximizing ROI, all while reducing the amount of human error that was previously part of making all these marketing decisions.
And, while you’ve been reading this, big data has just been getting bigger, so don’t hesitate in calling us to get started. Happy analyzing!
