Get To Know Your Audience Better With Data-Driven Marketing

The evolution of online marketing has given us more insight into consumer behavior than ever before. Like digital breadcrumbs, consumers leave behind hints and clues of their likes and dislikes as they travel around the web that brands can use to shape targeted outreach and potentially reduce wasted ad spend. But, taking advantage of this data requires a shift in how you view your marketing strategy and an assessment of your resources to do that. For those willing to try, you’ll find that data-driven marketing strategy is a good way to finally get to know the people behind the clicks making the effort worthwhile.

What Is Data-Driven Marketing?

This level of intelligence empowers marketers with insight into their target audience. By answering the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where and why), marketers can create personalized messaging to establish meaningful connections and forecast future behaviors.

A Data-Driven Mindset Benefits Your Strategy

There is much to gain by developing a data-driven approach to marketing.  Key benefits include:

• Personalization: Consumers want to be treated as individuals.  With the use of data, you can create custom messaging and experiences to reach your audience in a relevant way. In a 2017 Personalization Development Study published by the software company, Monetate, more than 70% of those surveyed reported profitability increases over a 12-month period had a documented personalization strategy.
• Product Development: Data-driven marketing is extremely valuable in the reduction of product failure rates. With a better understanding of target audiences, companies can build a product line better-suited for that market.
• Customer Experience: Companies who implement data-driven marketing strategies have demonstrated overall improvements in customer experiences.  With data from customer feedback and satisfaction surveys, more time can be spent understanding where improvements should be made and generating ideas to increase brand loyalty.
• Cross-selling: With its valuable insights, data-driven marketing can help identify new opportunities for cross-selling products and services across various audience segments thus improving retention and brand loyalty.

Data-Driven Marketing Tools Are Plentiful

Figuring out how to implement a data-driven marketing strategy into your marketing plan may seem difficult, but it’s not. When exploring options, as always, think about the needs and goals of your company. Stirista, a database marketing agency, compiled a list of their top 25 data-driven marketing tools to choose from, but we pulled out three of our favorites:

• Optimizely: One of the most popular solutions, Optimizely, provides audience targeting options, along with experimentation to uncover customer insights to create personalization.  Customers also have access to their resource library, webinars, and 24/7 customer support and forum support.
• Google Analytics: Probably the most well-known, Google Analytics provides real-time traffic reports with the number of people and their geographic locations.  It also shows visitor activity like how well they engage with your content.  The fact that it’s free brings even more benefit to your bottom-line.
• HubSpot: Hubspot offers a one-stop-shop approach that includes web analytics, social media marketing, and SEO recommendations just to name a few.  Based on your goals and budget, HubSpot has tools that can be accessed for free tools but also provides customization options that can be added as your business grows.

Final Thoughts

As in any relationship, consumers want to feel heard and understood. Leveraging the use of data and metrics in your marketing strategy can empower you with the intelligence to better understand your audience’s behaviors and anticipate their needs. This proactive approach sparks engagement and eventual trust that will produce positive results for your brand.