In the last couple of decades businesses have experienced a switch. Not so long ago we didn’t have access to enough information—now it could be argued that we have too much.
Faced with an embarrassment of informational riches from the likes of Google Analytics, your CRM and your social media profiles, you may not be sure where to start in terms of managing, analysing and capitalising on big data.
But with the right approach, you can convert the endless zeros and ones into deep and truly transformative marketing insights—the type that can help you increase brand awareness, generate more leads and win more business.
What is data-driven marketing?
What is data-driven digital marketing? It’s a form of digital marketing in which customer data is analysed to identify needs, wants and behavioural trends, as well as the most effective marketing strategies, channels and content to speak to that audience.
Data-driven marketing replaces the gut feel and guesswork of traditional marketing. In print, broadcast and outdoor advertising, the only way to check whether your marketing investment generates a return is to monitor changes in sales figures, and even then you can’t be sure that the ad is the reason for any increase.
Traditional marketing has a big knowledge gap: information on who saw your ad and how they interacted with your ad is very limited, and in some cases non-existent.
In digital marketing that gap is filled: you enjoy a comprehensive view of how customers interact with your ads and marketing materials, built on granular information like visitors, views, engagement, click-through rates and conversion rates.
The ultimate goal of data-driven marketing is to use this abundance of information to develop more personalised, more effective, more compelling marketing strategies – the type that will generate the greatest possible return on investment (ROI).
What is an example of data-based marketing?
Data-driven marketing strategies come in many shapes and sizes, but a few of the most common include:
Personalised marketing messages
One of the most useful forms of customer data is demographic information, such as age, gender and location. Sometimes this data can extend even deeper – social media platforms can reveal things like the careers, interests or relationship status of customers.
Demographic information allows you to segment your customers into groups that share certain characteristics, then personalise marketing to each. A chocolate company, for example, might target couples with a romance-focused message, and singles with a ‘treat yourself’ message.
Behaviour-based email marketing
CRM tools allow you to track a customer as they move down the sales funnel. Behaviour-based email marketing presents an opportunity to prod a prospect forward if they get stuck.
Imagine a customer who has signed up for a loyalty program a week ago, but who hasn’t yet bought anything. You could set up an automated email triggered by this type of customer behaviour, which reminds them of their sign-up, and perhaps entices them to make that first purchase with a one-time discount.
Retargeting
Ever wondered why, when you casually browse a certain product online, you see that exact product served up in display ads over and over again in the days and weeks that follow?
The answer is retargeting. This form of data-driven marketing logs the IP address of people who browse a specific product, then uses that information to target them with ads for a product that the seller knows they are interested in.
Why is data-driven marketing important?
Data-driven marketing is critical for a modern business for two main reasons:
- It is more effective: No more decisions based on guesses, gut feel or vibes – backed by quantifiable information, you can be more confident that your data-driven marketing strategy will work. If it doesn’t, you can dive into the hard data to find out why and fix the issues.
- It’s the only way to compete: On the internet a business finds itself competing against the rest of the world. If you are to succeed in such a hyper-competitive landscape, every action you take needs to be considered and purposeful.
How do you make marketing data driven?
Having answered the question ‘what is data driven advertising?’, and learned why it’s important, we should now look at how to make your marketing more data-driven.
The good news is that you have access to the necessary data, even if you don’t know it. Between internal systems like your CRM, and external platforms like Google Analytics and social media, all the information is freely available and ready to use.
From there you can either attempt to develop a data-driven marketing or data-driven lead generation strategy yourself, or you can get expert help.
Data-driven marketing is a specialist field – it’s not something that you can learn overnight. Add in the huge competition you face on the internet, and taking a DIY approach, or committing half-heartedly to data-driven marketing, can soon see you pouring money down the drain.
Or you could engage our expert team at Growth Partners.
DigitalArchitect: the ultimate data-driven marketing system
At Growth Partners we aren’t like other data-driven marketing companies. In fact, we don’t see ourselves as a marketing company at all. We instead offer data-driven strategies that result in real, sustainable, transformative growth.
We help you to capitalise on big data, analysing all the relevant information to develop more purposeful strategies across SEO, content, paid advertising and more. In the process we attract more qualified traffic, convert more visitors into leads, and convert more leads into paying customers.
These data-driven strategies are built on our proprietary DigitalArchitect System®, which forms your blueprint for digital growth. It is designed to reveal the customers you should target and how you should target them. It even comes with a three-year ROI projection, granting you unmatched clarity on the strength of the business case for your investment.
If you’re looking to dial up the effectiveness of your marketing efforts with data, we’re ready to help. Get in touch for no-obligation chat and kickstart your growth journey today.