If you cast your mind back to science lessons at school, it will probably be the experiments that you remember best – for good reasons or bad… Even in these rudimental experiments, it is apparent that evidence-led analysis is the cornerstone of scientific discovery. Investigating, analysing and using that data to inform opinion has helped pave the way for the most significant scientific discoveries.
‘So what?’, you might be asking. While in the world of digital marketing, you may never need to prove that plants need sun to grow; however, you would be wrong to think that this method of scientific analysis only has a place in classrooms. Data is critical to solving a variety of problems and answering all manner of questions – digital marketing is no exception.
As this article progresses, I would like you to keep in mind how helpful those simple experiments showed were in understanding the underlying issue as it is a similar process that I will be outlining below.
Real marketing geniuses use data
It would be great if a stroke of genius turned us into a sensation overnight. Sadly, this is a rather unrealistic dream. While taking the occasional leap of faith may be necessary, listening to what your results tell you is a more reliable method achieving consistent, long-term results.
It is essential, not simply beneficial and efficient, to use data for the creation, development and implementation of ideas. Research has demonstrated how consumer behaviour has changed in this digital age so much so that traditional, broad-spanning strategies are largely ineffective. The modern consumer is characterised by changeable buying behaviour and by the ability to shop globally, 24/7 and across various channels. These concerns mean that it has never been more vital to identify and target your ideal customer and to achieve this you need data.
The results speak for themselves. PwC conducted a survey of more than 1,000 senior executives and concluded that data-driven companies were three times more likely to experience improvements than those organisations who rely less on data.
Ignorance is not bliss
Data is a broad term and the data that you use to influence your decision-making should be equally as comprehensive. To incorporate data into your digital marketing strategy, you need insight into your customer and their purchasing patterns, as well as consumer habits, behaviours and wider market trends.
To lead to agency growth, the collection and analysis of this data should be continuous to give you feedback in real time. Information is valuable when it is most accurate and reflects the ever-changing needs of the all-important modern consumer. Preferences, as and when they change, will then be reflected in your retrieved data and allow you to remain proactive as well as on top of trends as they come and go.
Data-driven decision making (DDDM) allows agencies to learn more about their consumers to then implement customer-focused marketing initiatives which lead to higher engagement and strengthen relationships between company and customer.
Easier seen than said
Mark Jeffery outlined a 6-step plan which is as efficacious today as it was when he released his book in 2010. This plan lays the foundation for the guide below which should help you to visualise how to implement DDDM into your agency.
✅ – Outline your own strategic objectives
Having solid goals to work towards will help you later. Data should come in straight away by looking at your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to help identify areas where you are under-performing. These objectives will allow you to ask the right questions of your raw data and to turn that into workable plans.
✅ – Get to know your customers
Build up a database and look at the forms of data that you have at your disposal. This could be website traffic, purchasing history, social media, email marketing, online advertising and much more. Managing all this data though is time-consuming but platforms, such as Diginius Insight, allow you to view all this information in one place.
✅ – Identify your ideal customer
After accessing all this data, you need to identify particular patterns. Ask yourself about where your customers are located, what their other interests are as well as other demographic information such as age and gender. Using AI and Machine Learning tools can help here to process large data sets as well as to highlight these patterns,
✅ – Develop a marketing strategy
With your customer and their habits identified, you can then use this information to better target them. Creativity and data-analysis work together here to help you achieve reliable growth.
✅ – Build Trust
It would be negligent to ignore some of the privacy issues that are of concern to consumers. Thinking and reflecting on this and addressing their worries is as important as using the data itself.
✅ – Keep score
This is a continuous process. Keeping track of how your new ideas have impacted your KPIs, comparing statistics across platforms and watching to see if patterns in consumer behaviour have changed, needs to become the status quo for your marketing processes.
Doing as I preach
Having read everything that I have written here, I expect you to want to see some more information before you decide to implement DDDM. An interesting example comes from Philips, the technology and manufacturing company.
They were faced with some of the issues that were outlined above about the modern consumer: Philips has a digital presence in 79 markets and 38 languages. This meant manifold webpages and different consumer habits all around the world.
Philips therefore implemented a plan to use robust data management platform, data analytic software and AI to gain insight into how consumers responded to content. The analysis of this consumer and market data brought to light some key takeaways and allowed them to make strategic and informed decisions.
One such decision was that they implemented a slide-in call to action (CTA) and newsletter signups increased by 635%.
Conclusion
There is a lot of information and advice out there on the best ways to access and use data and I have seen comments about DDDM being a heaven-sent opportunity.
I make no such grand assertions and it would be remiss not to acknowledge its limitations, namely the privacy concerns. Although it still falls to you to manage the data effectively, DDDM is undoubtedly a more reliable method for growth which gives you more confidence when launching a new campaign and provides better ROI over time.
About the Author
Rhian Daniel
Rhian is the Marketing Communications Specialist at Diginius, with 3 years’ experience in digital marketing and content creation. Recently, Rhian has focused on content around Microsoft Advertising but has helped with marketing for various business needs.