Why data-driven marketing is important
Collecting customer data and then using it to advance your marketing efforts is what data-driven marketing is basically all about. It’s a fairly simple concept, even though it’s nowhere near as easy to apply it in practice. It can become increasingly difficult to manage and process the huge amount of data you get from your customers, but that said – it’s still the best way to know in which direction you want your marketing campaign to go. In this article, we’ll cover which aspects of your business data-driven marketing can affect and how it can take your business to a whole new level.
Identifying Target Audience
Where data-driven marketing really excels is in allowing you to really pinpoint who you want to target with your marketing campaign, as well as tell you exactly how to reach those people. Remember, having high traffic means little if most of the visitors won’t convert and actually buy your products or services. Figuring out who is your target audience is probably one of the best things about data, and can really help you focus your campaign towards the people that are most likely to buy something.
Understanding Your Target Audience
Knowing who your target customers are is extremely important, but it won’t matter much if you don’t approach them in a way that’s going to matter. You need to know why your customers are buying your products to reach them because they might have a completely different needs then what you believe.
If you don’t understand that your fashion line is being worn by skaters (even if they aren’t your intended target market) you won’t be able to adapt your marketing efforts in time and might lose on some valuable conversions. Understanding the audience is extremely important if you are to adapt representation of your products/services and attract a larger customer base.
Reaching Your Customers at the Right Time
We’ve already covered how data can help you determine WHO your customers are, as well as WHY they want your products, now it’s time to cover how data can tell you WHEN is the time that your target audience is most likely to respond. For instance, data can help you notice a pattern when a certain person is opening their emails most often, let’s say in the evening. So instead of reaching out in the morning, you can have your email automatically sent to this person around the time they are most likely to open it. Did you know that emails have the biggest impact within 1 hour after landing in an inbox? Well, now you do.
It Can Help Your SEO
One of the digital marketing aspects that extensively uses research data is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO services have been employing data in their processes ever since its conception because the only proper way for SEO to work is to use different sets of gathered customer data from websites and search engines. In the words of Sam Cyrus of GWM SEO “Without data, SEO wouldn’t be much more than plain guesswork – which tends to end badly in the business world. By implementing data-driven SEO you not only expose your business to more people, but also boost its reputation.”
Personalized Offers
One of the best things about data that we didn’t mention is that it actually lets you create a more personalized experience for your customers. Having customer’s purchase history will help you customize the next offer with ease and increase the likelihood of another purchase. This would be nigh impossible without collecting data. For example, if someone bought a discrete GPU a few days ago it is more likely that that person would need a new power supply or a new monitor rather than a laptop cooling pad. Having this kind of information is extremely valuable and can really take your sales to the next level.
Reaching Your Customers through the Right Channels
Another important aspect of collecting data is that you can easily assess which channel is the best to use for reaching a certain individual. Some people never open promo emails, yet they do click through on an offer in their social media channel. Some won’t even use social media but will be glad to listen to a phone offer. Businesses can use this kind of data to reach the right people effectively, which will make them more likely to have a positive response.
Bottom Line
Today, data is an extremely powerful tool businesses can use to expand and be more successful at what they do. When used correctly, data will show you exactly who you should reach and in what way to make the most out of it, as well as which communication channel you should use. Data-driven marketing is only going to get more and more important in the years to come, so make sure you use it the right way if you’re looking to improve your marketing campaigns.