Over the past month, we’ve been talking about the importance of a new data-driven marketing value chain. But we’re not the only ones—the concept of data-driven storytelling and insights is a hot topic in the marketing world right now. As evidence of the support for this approach, we’ve rounded up a few recent articles and posts from around the web with interesting thoughts about the importance and application of data:
Using data to inform marketing plans and measure success has yielded an added benefit: marketing has gained credibility in the C-suite. Data allows marketing to become more efficient and effective, which has a direct impact on the bottom line. Integrated analytics not only improves inputs (customer data) but also outputs (return on investment)—and that translates to better performance, increased cost savings and a greater respect for marketing as a field.
While this post calls out the significant impact of data on marketing (in a recent study, more than half of CEOs and CIOs said that “big data was drastically changing their business strategies”), it also highlights the need to balance data and emotion within brand strategy. When it comes to understanding and influencing consumer behavior, how can the “art” of emotion and “science” of data best work together?
With the overwhelming amount of information available, marketers face the challenge of pulling out relevant insights. The good news? Media sites are helping make data more actionable by tapping into tools, identifying insights, and packaging it all for marketers. As a part of that, innovative media companies are currently working to improve demographic profiles, create self-service analytics tools, produce easy-to-digest visuals and graphs, serve up real-time trending information, and offer on-the-go access via custom mobile apps.
App marketers used to rely on very basic data to make marketing-related decisions. Thanks to Facebook’s more comprehensive audience data, app marketers can now segment and target specific groups, as well as serve up different versions of ad creative. As a result, other platforms—such as Twitter, Google, Yahoo! and AOL—are leveraging their own data to step up their game in the app space.
And just for fun…
Marketing isn’t the only area to benefit from data-driven insights. Michael Lewis recognized how the Oakland Athletics baseball team used data and analytics to value players, make decisions and ultimately gain great success—a strategy that many professional sports teams have since adopted.
What interesting articles have you read lately about data and insights? Share links in the comments!
Photo credit: reynermedia via Flickr Creative Commons
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