Marketing has undergone some huge transformations in recent years. Where once marketing strategies depended on a 'wait and see' approach and some basic metrics, we can now create highly targeted campaign developed using detailed data analysis. In today's highly digitized age, data is more abundant and more important than ever and is an essential tool for any company looking to sell products and services in the most efficient and profitable ways. In this article, we'll look at the possibilities and opportunities that data-driven marketing has to offer and why it should be a primary focus in any digital marketing strategy.

The Evolution of Data-Driven Marketing

If you've been in the marketing business for some time, you'll remember the simple days of measuring cost-per-clicks and bounce rates. Today, however, if you want to capitalize on the digital dollar and get the best return on your marketing investment, you need to get a little more technical. At first glance, data-driven marketing might seem complex but once you start to realize the value of data and what it can do for your bottom line, putting in a little extra work will more than pay dividends.

Setting Goals and Tracking KPIs

Data-driven marketing would be nothing without an end goal in sight. It would also be pointless if you had no way of tracking your progress. For most company's, the goal is simple - to attract more visitors and generate more conversions. With your goals defined, you can start to use KPIs to track whether you are on the right path or not. Your KPI might be something as simple as the nominal number of people visiting your website, or it could be more complex such as the changes in the frequency of those visitors.

Sourcing and Aggregating the Most Valuable Data

Data is everywhere and it can be very time-consuming to filter through an endless sea of information. For this reason, it is important to choose which data will be the most effective for your data-driven marketing campaign. Again, your goals will play a critical role in your data selection process. For example, if you are targeting prospects in a particular demographic, you can aggregate your data so that it can be sorted by age, profession, income, etc.

It is also important that you ask the right questions of your data. Having data is easy. The challenge is turning that data into actionable insights that help you to craft relevant marketing for your prospects. When you source and aggregate your data correctly, you can start to create personalized messages that land in the right place with the right person at the right time.

Make it Easier with Data Visualization

When you are accumulating data from so many different sources, it can be a challenge to render meaning to the data. For this reason, the best data analytics tools offer data visualization that extracts relevant data and presents it in a meaningful way. Whether you are gathering data from offline channels, Facebook, market surveys, your website, customer feedback, etc., a data visualization dashboard will help you to gather, segment and use data in the most effective way.

If you'd like to find out how to get more value and insights from your data, get in touch at hello@maikaglobal.com. We'd be delighted to show you how the right data can help you to craft an effective marketing strategy that brings you the best return on investment.