Everyone’s Talking About Data

Almost anyone who works in marketing will agree that data is one of the most common topics seen across blogs, whitepapers, social posts, conferences – basically, anywhere industry leaders are sharing thought leadership. So why according to a recent McKinsey study do 86% of established B2B companies believe they can do much better with data? 

Common Barriers To Using Data

Whether there’s a large marketing team or a team of one, the reasons more companies are not acting on their data are very similar.

  • Missing Strategy.

    Businesses who successfully leverage data have a strategy in place of how their data can drive growth – which may be attracting new business, growing existing customer value or reducing sales losses or attrition. This plan is typically informed by an understanding of their current data and identification of key gaps and prioritized data-driven KPIs to measure success.

  • Not Knowing Where to Start.

    Whether talking about 1st party data (the data your company owns) or 3rd party data (the data your company can acquire), there has to be a clear path of where to start. Is it data cleansing or optimization? Should data be used to attract new business or grow the value of existing customers? Or should reducing the rate and impact of attrition be the primary focus? Figuring out the primary opportunities or challenges where data can support is often half the battle.

  • Siloed Data.

    Most organizations collect and store data in multiple platforms – CRM, e-commerce, customer service/help desk apps, marketing automation platforms…even excel! Without a way to unify data, it’s difficult to get a single customer view across all channels. This limits the insights that can be derived and the effectiveness of data-driven actions.

  • Messy or Bad Data.

    In Anaconda’s recent annual report, the authors found that data scientists still spend at least 25% of their time cleansing data. In most small to midsize businesses where either IT or marketing would handle these tasks, the effort will be even greater. More time spent on data prep means slower time to action, delaying (or even missing) time-sensitive opportunities. 

  • Lack of Resources.

    Having dedicated and right-skilled data and analytics resources is critical to a successful data initiative, from strategy through to execution and measurement. Filling these roles has become increasingly challenging as the required skill sets are very sought after and often difficult or expensive to fill. Unfortunately, organizations that don’t have these resources in place will be limited to how they can effectively use their data.

Data Is A Differentiator

These challenges can seem daunting. But the benefits of a strong data strategy make the investment in tackling these challenges well worth the effort. According to the Georgia Small Business Development Center, businesses that leverage big data analytics tools (meaning data that a company creates as part of their operations, marketing, sales etc) enjoy 15% more sales than companies who don’t.  Data can help a business better understand their leads and customers and deliver messaging that is relevant and value-driven using segmentation and personalization. Some businesses use data to develop new ideas, products and services that are attuned to customer needs and wants. 

How to Get Started

At Goose Digital, we firmly believe that creating a data strategy is the starting point. There are many tactics and tools that can help support data collection, cleansing as well as analytics and marketing – but everything starts with the strategy. We will be diving deeper into the challenges, opportunities, tactics and tools to power your data-driven marketing over the next few weeks.

Are you ready to get started with your data projects? Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.