When I wrote Big Data Marketing in 2013, my goal was to get past all the hype and fear to open up the conversation about the benefits of data-driven marketing. Now, two years later, has the dialogue shifted? Are marketers becoming more data-driven?
Results from the recent Teradata 2015 Global Data-Driven Marketing Survey indicate that marketers are eager to move beyond the status quo and use the technologies available to them to truly individualize marketing communications; however, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. For instance:
- 90 percent of the 1,500+ marketers we surveyed said that individualized marketing is a priority. But only 50 percent routinely apply data to individualize their messages and offers.
- The number of companies utilizing data-driven marketing strategically has more than doubled (36 percent in 2013 vs. 78 percent today). But 44 percent reported that achieving consistency in omni-channel marketing remains a challenge.
- 59 percent said faster decisions are a key benefit of using data, and 67 percent feel decisions involving data are more accurate. But 80 percent said silos within marketing itself prevent an omni-channel view of campaigns.
What can companies do to keep moving forward?
Another study Teradata conducted in partnership with The Economist Intelligence Unit found that the most important thing businesses can do is continuously evolve their data culture to become more customer-centric. That means CEOs need to remove their rose-colored glasses and start developing a shared data-driven vision, one that’s based on insights about the information and experience each customer wants.
What’s the first step? Resolve misperceptions.
Forty-seven percent of CEOs we surveyed believe all employees have access to the data they need, but only 27 percent of managerial respondents agreed. Similarly, CEOs were more likely than employees to think relevant data is captured and made available in real time (43 percent vs. 29 percent) and that employees extract relevant insights from data (38 percent vs. 24 percent).
Our results showed that when those disconnects are resolved, the entire company benefits:
- Among top performers—those from companies that “significantly” or “somewhat” outperform in profitability—63 percent said data initiatives are launched and driven by corporate leadership, and 41 percent have a centralized data/analytics group that introduces and implements data initiatives.
- Data-driven companies are more likely to generate higher profits. They’re also twice as likely to report a culture of creativity and innovation, and they’re much more likely to reap benefits like greater collaboration and better quality and speed of execution.
These two studies can help marketers identity the strategic pressure points for positive change. It’s time to narrow in on the C-suite and corporate data.
This post originally appeared on the Economist Group's Lean back blog.
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