Marketing and the use of data

“Half the money we spend on marketing is wasted, the problem is we don’t know which half.”

The phrase is from one of the greatest retail merchants of the late 1922th century, the American John Wannamaker. The entrepreneur died in 100 with this questioning, which, incredible as it may seem, exactly XNUMX years later, the topic remains a dilemma for many companies.

The paradox is that, in the age of information, it should be easier to understand marketing strategies more efficiently, that is, to know where and how to use marketing dollars effectively.

Follow our post on the topic and discover the possibilities and benefits that the use of data and information combined with marketing can provide!

If you know our Blog, you already know that we have some content related to use of Data, Business Intelligence, as well as Marketing, etc.

In fact, it can be said that Marketing came before IT. However, the possibilities provided by technology are undeniable for marketing strategies to be increasingly accurate and optimized.

Speaking specifically of Business Intelligence, in this post we list 3 points that deserve your attention to consider the combination of BI and Marketing and see your company or department grow.

Overall, BI powers marketing, providing professionals with deep insights into customer preferences, attitudes, and behaviors. In turn, marketers can use this analysis to create better advertising campaigns for target audiences and deliver meaningful results. This, however, can only be considered “the tip of the iceber” since the combined use of these concepts can provide the conception and achievement of precious KPIs for organizations to guide their processes in the best possible way.

1. Improve customer relationships 

Most CRMs today have ways to export the various data present in their base. In this way, we can think of different scenarios where the use of data can be filtered to obtain precious information about our customer base.

An example would be identifying buying patterns based on seasonality, gender, age group, or all of these elements combined. Who knew that men in their 30s and 40s are mostly more likely to buy tracksuits in a given month of the year? – BI tools would say, when cross-referencing a clothing company's sales data.

And what to do with this information?

For many actions, such as a specific campaign to complement sales in this period, or even discounts and other incentives to influence the purchase of such products in other periods, if it is in the company's interest.

2. Improve sales forecast and new customers   

Accurate sales forecasts provide many benefits, such as increased order fulfillment, lower inventory costs, and higher profits. Business intelligence improves the speed and accuracy of sales forecasts using underlying information based on product demands, promotional campaigns and other factors.

A practical example? Let's imagine a scenario where, by analyzing the purchase history of the last 3 years, we can identify times when there is greater or lesser demand. OK, so far, it's no big deal, all right. However, when we cross this with data from campaigns and marketing actions, things start to get interesting.

In this hypothetical example, we can identify that at a certain time (in this example, the European holidays, in the month of August) there is a sales GAP, with investment in marketing or not. This would give us clues for a decision making that forks in changing the marketing strategy for the period or, depending on the case, not investing even one more cent in this particular period, since the money could be destined to improve the relationship with partners and resellers, the R&D department (to create new products that make sense at that time) among other possibilities.

3. Efficient benchmarking   

Competitor analysis is an important point for companies that want to improve their market share. So it makes sense to use the power of data to your advantage in these situations. In this case, especially with secondary data (such as surveys and surveys by independent bodies, entities, etc.) it is possible to draw parallels and identify patterns in a strategic way to guide a company's next steps in a market.

Companies can use BI to gain competitive advantage in many ways. They can compare specific metrics such as website traffic or social media engagement for newly launched products, or even for tracking against a particular competitor's campaign. This can bring insights into marketing actions and strategic planning.

These 3 points illustrate just a few of the many possibilities of using data in line with marketing. Going back to the beginning of the post, today it is totally possible to know how much is invested in marketing, what is the return and where it comes from. Mr Wannamaker would be very pleased!

One of the benefits of BI is the ability to classify large amounts of data and generate actionable insights from it. To function optimally, you need to know WHAT to analyze and display. In other words, the answers are possibly there, but we need to know exactly “what to ask”. This will be crucial to generate really productive indicators for the organization's growth. Right questions about the data that has been made available.

Our Marketing and BI consultancy helps companies around the world to define and find these parameters.

If you would like to talk to us, it will be a pleasure, just get in touch! Send a message to us or contact via WhatsApp. It will be a pleasure to work together!