Well-lit and audio ready room (compliments of peanut butter quietly distracting my dog), check.
Dozens of digital marketers listening intently on the line, check.
20 years of experience working with data to inform design, content and marketing investments, check.
I was ready for my interview with TogetherDigital, an organization of women created to support one and other as digital professionals. What an honor.
Watch the full recording here >
Here are 5 takeaways from our conversation:
1. To be “data-driven” is to be customer-driven
Having data does not make a data-driven organization. Truly being data-driven is not only about the quantity of information we collect, but rather, what we do with that insight.
This definition is important! Brands that use data-driven marketing techniques are those who actively use data to deliver relevant, tailored experiences based on customer attributes and behaviors.
One obvious example is Amazon, with their highly-customized “you might be interested in” and “customers who bought X also bought Y” recommendations. (PS: This helped the company make over $241B last year.) But, there are plenty of smaller brands that use these techniques successfully, too.
On the flip side, brands that do not use data-driven marketing techniques are those who deliver a “one size fits all” experience, for example sending the same email to 600,000 contacts without segmentation.
2. With great data comes greater responsibility
With the influx of data comes new responsibilities for marketers:
- To put the data we collect to good use. As marketers, if we collect customer data, it’s our responsibility to use it to enhance their experience. If we’re not doing that, we’re simply not doing our jobs.
- To advocate for value in every interaction. Our responsibility to the companies we serve is to advocate for what’s best for the customer. To do so, the charter of marketing is to create value in every interaction. When we make broad-based decisions about our audience, it provides very little value to them.
- To challenge internal assumptions. Here at Qualified Digital, we know that assumptions are often what drives broad-based, one-size-fits-all marketing. But assumptions are the enemy of modern, data-driven marketing (yes, even when they come from the HIPPO* in the room.)
3. Data-driven marketing organizations focus on 3 core practices
The three, primary, data-driven marketing practices that companies need to master are:
- Data collection and storage – the practice of capturing data and storing it in a reporting tool or database
Related key terms: campaign tracking, website tracking, tag management, web analytics, CRM, data warehouse, data lakes - Data reporting and analysis – the practice of finding anomalies and trends in data to inform marketing decisions
Related key terms: insights, reports, dashboards, visualization, analysis, data segmentation, data modeling, data science - Data activation – the practice of USING data to tailor content for customers
Related key terms: audience targeting, behavioral targeting, personalization, optimization, marketing automation, lead nurturing, data management platforms (DMPs)
4. Data activation is the most important call to action in 2019
Brands tend to adopt these practices in a linear way, starting first with data collection, then moving to analysis then to activation. And that approach makes sense (you need to collect data before you can analyze it or activate it).
The challenge is, most brands get stuck in the data collection and reporting stages. Many invest resources to build dashboards but fail to move beyond dashboards to actually put data to work – the activation stage.
That’s an enormous missed opportunity, as our ultimate goal is to activate that data and put it to work to deliver the kinds of experiences your customers have come to expect in 2019.
Examples of digital data activation:
- Ad targeting – from using Google AdWords to retarget site visitors to a full data management platform to activate audience-driven experiences across multiple touchpoints in the user journey.
- Optimization (A/B testing) – testing two different versions of a landing page or email against each other to see which one “wins” to continually optimize your efforts.
- Personalization – tailoring experiences based on customer attributes or behaviors (e.g. in B2B tailoring content by the visitor’s industry).
- Recommendations – used on e-commerce and media sites to surface products or articles that the visitor might like based on previous browsing or purchase experiences.
Fortunately, with the capabilities of modern marketing technology and machine learning more readily available, it’s getting easier for marketers to move into the data activation stage.
(This is also what our team at Qualified Digital loves to help companies solve.)
5. The career path to digital analytics may surprise you
I want to give some advice to anyone considering a role in digital analytics, and those who think this is actually not part of your role.
Even if you don’t have a background in statistics or computer science, if you are passionate about customer experience and you are in a digital marketing role, then you may very well be perfectly prepared for the world of digital analytics.
I did not train in math or modeling, but rather came into marketing through my love of creative storytelling and technology. When I was growing up, creative technology was analog, tape recorders, and film cameras, so imagine how my mind was blown when the Internet hit in the 90’s.
I taught myself how to make a website in 1998, landed my first paid job as a “web producer” in 1999, and never looked back. Since then I’ve have helped dozens of brands use data to build better customer experiences – many brands you know, and many brands you don’t.
You bring real value to the organization related to digital analytics, even if you’re not a statistician or traditional analyst. Some of the best data analysts and strategists I know started in marketing or creative before transitioning into analytics.
It’s an exciting time to be in the world of data-driven marketing. I’d love to connect with you about this new world, whether you’re facing a challenge or considering a similar career.
It’s an exciting time to be in the world of data-driven marketing. I’d love to connect with you about this new world, whether you’re facing a challenge or considering a similar career.
Connect with me here on LinkedIn.
Linda Schumacher, Senior Director of Analytics and Data Strategy, Qualified Digital
Linda combines her love for digital strategy with 15 years of hands-on analytics expertise in her role at Qualified Digital, a CX company. She wakes up every day curious about making data, technology, and business work in harmony, and is committed to helping companies close the gap between analysts, technical teams, and their business stakeholders.
She has delivered beautiful experiences for customers of brands you know and many you don’t. Linda is an Adobe Certified Expert and a Google Analytics Certified Consultant and lives in Oakland, CA with her family. Connect with her on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/lindaschumacher
