In a world that is moving faster, getting louder, and constantly changing, it is more important than ever to ensure every single customer feels your attention. As we know, it’s crucial in business to understand your customer, foresee their needs and meet expectations. Being able to do this effectively means taking a data-based approach.
With a data-based approach, we take assumptions out of the game and we know we are making evidence-based projections – helping us to best provide for our customers, improve their experience, improving their business outcomes as well as our own.
Firstly, what even is data? Data and information are not the same thing and both are essential parts of the puzzle of effective marketing. Data needs to be collected, it needs to be analyzed, and then once interpreted it becomes information. Collecting data effectively and accurately is so important as it makes sure we have a solid base to then get information and understanding from.
Every business, regardless of the industry, needs to collect relevant data about its customers and turn this into useful information, leading to successful marketing activities. With relevant data, businesses can create an effective strategy of what to do with the learnings from the data – this is what we call data-driven marketing.
What is data-driven marketing? The term emerged because of today’s digitally connected world where social media and mobile devices have risen and data has become the key to success. Data-driven marketing is defined as a method of marketing that uses data from customer interactions and third parties to gain a better view of customers’ motivations, preferences, and behaviors. As a result, it helps companies optimize performance, enhance customer experience, and therefore generate greater revenue and profits.
With a complete shift in people’s interactions, business approaches, and lived experiences caused by the pandemic, data-driven marketing is now the most popular approach in business strategy.
We are witnessing a massive increase in interactions via digital means, and we are now hyper-connected…online. This is an immense resource for marketers to tap in, and data-driven marketing offers countless opportunities for businesses to improve their practices and outcomes. To know what customers want, you need to understand them. Data-driven marketing gives us the tools to do so accurately.
So, what’s so great about data-driven marketing? It’s a process that has very little margin for error and is definitely the new catchphrase in the marketers’ diary. Benefits include;
- Data means you reach the right people at the right time as you can trace trends and patterns
- Data can help you understand what works and what doesn’t – you can then understand why and make the necessary adjustments
- Target marketing becomes easier if you can segment based on data
- Multichannel ads help spread messages beyond emails
- We are hyper-connected across multiple digital channels – to not tap into these resources would be a massive waste
- You know exactly what your customers want and need so you can improve product development – boosting initiative and innovation.
Moving towards a data-driven marketing approach needn’t be complicated. Check out some of the best marketing technology for startups here.
Increasingly, businesses are moving to the SMART method. This means ensuring that your goals meet the following requisites;
- Specific – you have a clearly defined outcome that you want to achieve
- Measurable – you’ve considered how you will gauge your progress/success
- Achievable – is the goal realistic, in a realistic timeframe?
- Relevant – do your goals align with core objectives
- Timely – what’s your idealistic timeline that will also ensure the most success?
Data-driven marketing will lead to increased sales, better customer interaction, and more personalization. Fact. Data is big, there are endless pieces of data we can look into, and this is only growing in our ever-increasingly connected world. It’s been well documented how savvy marketers are rethinking their tech and data strategies following the cultural shift following Covid-19, it’s certainly a growth area and the future for this section of marketing is exciting. Read about life science marketing for start-ups.
‘The post-pandemic era is going to require a fresh approach from businesses. The winners will be those with a greater online presence and the savviest use of digital platforms as a way to stay connected with their customers.’
The SciLeads platform collates an incredible amount of data about life science professionals which our customers utilize to enhance their marketing insights, find potential customers, and optimize the buying process. Discover the many ways SciLeads can benefit your sales and marketing strategy by getting a free demo of the platform today: