At its heart, marketing is a creative field. However, just like any other aspect of business, it remains subject to hard numbers. In order to get the most out of your limited advertising budget, you have to utilize data to find the right marketing strategy for you.
Computers may not be able to create a funny video or craft an emotional pitch (yet). But that doesn’t mean the concrete, quantitative analysis provided by computers can’t help shape a powerful marketing campaign.
By creating a strong process for accumulating and processing data, you set yourself up for improved customer acquisition and increased sales.
Organize Your Efforts
To get the most out of your marketing efforts, you need to create a killer data-analysis organization. That means amassing as much relevant information you can.
Your first stop should be your website. You can gather information about your audience, allowing you to increase traffic and boost conversion rates.
You can also turn to public troves of information, like those provided by Google. These won’t be unique to you, but you can still glean useful insights from the data.
At the same time, build up proprietary sources of intelligence. This can include things like user surveys – data sets that allow you to steer your specific decision-making.
Gathering information isn’t enough. You also need to organize it in a way that allows for cogent analysis. Here, look for solutions like druid architecture. It allows you to store and query information in a convenient and functional way.
Leverage the Scientific Method
Science advances on the back of experimentation, driven by data. Scientists notice phenomena, make hypotheses, create experiments to test their expectations, and use data to judge the results.
You should use the same process in your marketing efforts. Use experimentation to test various aspects of the campaign. In this way you can figure out how best to use your budget.
You can select the ideal outlet (web vs. social, etc.), the best tone, and even the precise wording that gets the biggest response.
Optimize Your Website
It’s important to keep pace with changing trends related to customer use. Your website represents your first contact with most of your buyers. It’s important to get the most out of this initial opportunity to make an impression.
At this point, the Internet is basically equally split between mobile and desktop use. The ratio for online traffic in 2019 reached about 52% from mobile and 45% from desktop.
The key to long-term growth, however, isn’t just knowing the current marketplace. You need to be ready for circumstances to change.
A well-structured data organization can provide this flexibility. By continually reviewing customer habits, you are able to evolve over time. You can stay ahead of trends, and reorient your website (and your other marketing efforts) accordingly.
Improve Your Content Marketing Efforts
Content marketing offers an excellent opportunity to widen your audience and deepen your relationship with customers.
The strategy provides an unparalleled lead-generating function. In one survey, 93% of B2B firms stated that content marketing offered a better way to generate leads than more traditional strategies.
But extracting the most value out of content marketing requires a deep data dive.
Having the right content can greatly increase the chances that you’ll finalize a sale. For instance, one study found that landing pages with videos had an 86% higher conversion rate.
These insights can spill over into other marketing efforts as well. Another study found that including the word “video” in the subject line of an email led to a 19% increase in open rates. In this way, creating strong content can drive other aspects of your customer-acquisition strategy.
With the right data, you can further fine-tune these general insights. You can learn what works best with your particular audience.
Meanwhile, you can develop your strategy over time, once again responding to changes as audience tastes evolve.
Drive Repeat Business
Don’t just use data to improve your chances of landing new clients. Collect statistics on how your current customers behave as well.
After all, your repeat buyers represent your highest-margin, most-reliable sources of revenue. One study indicated that one repeat customer was worth 9 new buyers.
Track your customers’ purchase patterns and look for ways to improve your responsiveness. Be ready with add-on offers and other techniques to boost the revenue generated with each order.
These statistics won’t just help your current revenue prospects. You’ll also have a better idea of how to position yourself for future growth.
The data you compile about your current customer base will help you target your R&D efforts. You’ll be able to anticipate their needs and direct your innovation to the areas of biggest demand.
Provide Better Customer Service
Data can help you serve your customers better. While not strictly under the marketing umbrella at most organizations, customer service plays a significant role in building relationships with clients. Think of it as an extension of marketing.
With data analysis, you can better target these customer-service efforts. In one case study reported by Gallup, a financial services company assigned relationship managers based on simple geography.
Using complicated data analysis, Gallup reassigned these advisors based on how closely matched they were to individual clients. The result? A 10% boost to new business revenue and a 20% rise in customer satisfaction.
By leveraging data, this company was able to match its clients with the right relationship manager, leading to better financial results.
You can use the information you compile in the same way. You can find small changes (like shuffling the case loads of individual customer contacts) that can have a large overall impact on the bottom line.
Improve Your Branding
A strong brand works like a cheat code for long-term expansion. A survey conducted by Lucidpress showed that a consistent brand was associated with a 33% increase in overall growth.
Building the right reputation allows you to connect more easily with customers, to maintain more pricing power, and to stave off challenges from newer competitors.
Getting the most out of your brand requires strong data analysis. You want to make sure your efforts are sending the message you envision.
You also want to road-test the best way to deliver your brand, so that you get as much mileage out of it as you can.
At the same time, you want to make constant tweaks to both your messaging and your brand itself. To get the most out of your efforts, your brand has to stay fresh and relevant. Only data can let you know whether this is the case.
