Are You Listening? 4 Things Your Data Is Trying to Tell

It does not do your business much good to collect massive amounts of big data if you do not have a plan to glean valuable insights for marketing decisions from it. If you listen well, data and analytics provide important perspectives on your audience and their behaviours.

The following is a look at several things your data is trying to tell you and tips on how to listen attentively.

Customer Traits

"Efficiency" is the name of the game in marketing. Companies need to understand the people and messages that drive results to optimise message strategies and avoid wasted investments.

Deep and thorough profile data is necessary to develop insights regarding customer traits. As you attract leads to your site, capture data on demographics, firmographics, and geographics. The best way to know the ideal customers to target with lead generation is to look at your most profitable current customers. Analytics reporting offers insights on the traits buyers or particular solutions have in common. Use it to build buyer personas for each solution.

Customer Behaviours

In addition to profile data, behavioural or transactional data is necessary for clear understanding of your marketplace. You need to know how your prospects and customers respond to certain types of messages, interact with your website, and conduct their buying process.

You might learn, for instance, the buyers in a particular sector prefer to research solutions on social channels before contacting a provider. This understanding allows you to concentrate your efforts on developing and delivering brand messaging via social channels rather than more traditional marketing channels.

Path to Conversion

The path a prospect takes to conversion is an essential type of behaviour to understand. Typical buyers conduct much of their initial research online before ever contacting a company.

When you recognise the path your typical prospects take, it informs your marketing and sales process. Marketing is able to dedicate resources and investment into the highest-impact communication channels. Salespeople can devise the best plan for making an initial call to a prospect, including the right contact method, and the correct timing for the call.

Engagement Success

Engagement with prospects has become integral to data driven marketing in the digital age. In contrast to traditional advertising, digital and social platforms allow for real-time interaction with prospects.

Social analytics, such as likes, shares, and mentions, allow you to see how prospects respond to and interact with your content. Determine which platforms and message strategies generate the results you need.

Conclusion

Marketing technology that enables data driven marketing is only useful if your company has a plan to collect and analyse the right types of data and to use it to make optimal business decisions. The general goal is to identify the traits and behaviours of your core customers so you can tailor your marketing strategies to achieve the most efficient and effective investments.

Neth Williams, Marketing Manager at Occam DM Ltd (part of the St Ives Group)