What matters most is the optimization of the customer experience, relevance and (perceived) customer value as a driver of business value. Data-driven marketing certainly is not (just) about advertising and programmatic ad buying as some believe. Nor is it just about campaigns. On the contrary: if done well, data-driven marketing is part of digital marketing transformations whereby connecting around the customer across the customer life cycle is key.
Very succinct vision of what data-driven marketing is, it's all about the customer experience. The advent of "big data" was nothing more than gathering extra data about the customers. Gathering data is only the first step of the process, albeit a time-consuming one. The good news is after the hard work of gathering the data has been completed, the harder part starts. Once you have data, making sense of the data and creating actionable outcomes to enhance the customer experience becomes the goal. This is very hard work. It takes plenty of analysis and insight to reach this goal. But the companies who will do this the best will be the ones that succeed in the digital age.
Among the key takeaways of the data-driven marketing report by the GlobalDMA:
77% of marketers are confident in the data-driven approach and 74% expect to increase data marketing budgets this year.
Data efforts by far focus on offers, messages and content (marketing) first (69% of respondents). Second ranks a data-driven strategy or data-driven product development. Customer experience optimization unfortunately only ranks third with 49% of respondents.
Among the key drivers of increased data marketing: first of all a need to be more customer-centric (reported by 53% of respondents). Maximizing efficiency and return ranks second followed by gaining more knowledge of customers and prospects.
I believe the first step in the process is understanding where the puck is going to be and skate in that direction. Marketers are understanding this data revolution is coming and they are saying the right things in surveys. The real question will be how to get there. It's easy to identify problems, it's hard to implement solutions. The marketers who will show they are adept at change will thrive in this new paradigm.
Customer analytics is something I have focused my entire career. In the casino industry we have had the optimal opt-in mechanism for many years and have collected amazing amounts of data about our customers behavior. We have used this to create targeted marketing campaigns to our customers, so I believe in the direction the entire industry is taking. Always start with the customer. It will lead to creating better experiences and more profitable results.