Data Analytics & the Future of Marketing

In 2020, studies found that the total number of bytes across the entire digital landscape was 40 times bigger than the number of stars in our observable universe. That’s an astronomical number of data to try and make sense of. In fact, we’d argue it’s impossible without the use of something called data analytics. 

Data analytics, particularly in the field of marketing, refers to the scientific process of evaluating and transfiguring raw data in order to discover valuable insights and new conclusions for important business questions. 

Over the last decade, data analytics has risen in the ranks among marketers as the best tool to develop and improve business marketing strategies. Although marketing has always maintained the firm goal of successfully promoting and selling goods or services, data analytics has transformed the ways in which we utilize modern marketing to reach that goal today.  

The rise of social media and online shopping in recent years are two factors that have had an enormous impact on the current state of the marketing industry. Long gone are the days of printed advertorial pamphlets and radio sound bites. Today, we see everything from sponsored Instagram posts and paid-for-content podcast episodes to brand endorsements from influencers — all competitive tactics that companies are using to get the word out on what they do. 

But now that there are so many more marketing techniques and tactics available, how do you decide which marketing route will offer the greatest impact and the greatest ROI for your business? Data analytics offers the steps towards finding those answers. 

Valuable Insights

In the past, marketers would perform door-to-door surveys or make hundreds of phone calls to gain consumer insights on goods or services. Traditionally, companies would offer coupons or promotions via postcards and mailed envelopes to measure whether their marketing efforts were successful or not. If people failed to respond to the surveys or postcards, then no conclusive insights could be drawn. 

Unlike the postcard methods of before, companies can now measure the responses to their products or services by tracking the real-time engagement with their modern marketing campaigns. 

If you’re wondering how data is collected from this engagement, think about the last time you opened a link from a newsletter you received via email or a sponsored post on social media. Each of those electronic interactions was likely recorded and categorized by a big data company using cloud storage and location-based technology. Opening emails, clicking on links, and the amount of time spent on a web page are all types of electronic interactions that serve as examinable doorways towards insight.

Data analytics helps marketers obtain insights into market trends and shifts, as wells as consumer buying patterns on a daily, monthly, or annual basis. It facilitates a space for marketing agencies and businesses to develop profitable campaigns together based on the insights found.  

Regular data analytics can identify marketplace trends in real time, so businesses can see what consumers are interested in and what customer experiences they’d be eager to support. Analyzing and interpreting data subsequently provides a deeper comprehension of the kind of content or messages that would be more impactful in the B2B or B2C cycles.

After learning about what content would be more impactful, you can return to your planned marketing tactics and tailor them to suit the new information gathered.   

Consumer and business data, therefore, isn’t as valuable as the actual analysis of the information is. For this reason, data analytics’ value lies in the marketing insights that it can derive.

How Can These Insights Help My Business?

In our unpredictable and ever-changing world, it can be difficult to stay on top of what resonates with consumers and what marketing tactics will deliver improved sales growth. There isn’t as great a force as the right marketing campaign to accelerate one’s business. 

If utilized correctly, data analytics possesses the power to optimize your marketing strategies in innovative ways. New data and data insights are accumulated every single day. How your company uses it is what will determine the success of your business. 

The practicality of data ultimately depends on whether or not the data leads to action. Reviewing thousands of numbers and inspecting consumer behavior undoubtedly informs the work of data analytics, but transforming the insights into something actionable is what will bring greater value to your company.

Marketing optimization platforms are important to consider in this regard because they are the only platforms that can lead data to action. Such a platform can remodel what we learn from data into prospective marketing strategies that will resonate with real consumers, despite the fact that it came from computer-generated insights. 

Altering the approach to marketing in this way will elevate your company’s above-market growth, improve brand awareness, and enhance your return on investment marketing, offering broad results that prove how money and time were spent wisely. 

The Future of Marketing

The amount of existing and new data within our digital universe has reached a point where no physical team can make sense of it alone. That is why advanced software is absolutely necessary to keep up with the influx of data collected every day. 

For marketing, this entails the need to continue employing new technologies to analyze and transform data into actionable insights for the purpose of marketing optimization. Without investing in these tools and software, companies will struggle to remain current in the face of modern marketing. 

We’re heading towards a place where data analytics has become an integral part of the marketing world. Developers, economists, and statisticians will continue to collaborate with each other to create new software that will provide businesses and marketers with mathematical modeling and forecasting tools to optimize their marketing model and other marketing investments.

Our Platform

Proof BusinessGPS™ is a marketing optimization platform that leverages automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help companies navigate the most impactful marketing route that will bring value to their business, regardless of what’s happening in the marketplace. 

Our analytics software delivers actionable and real-time insights with perpetual updates for both analysts and marketers, as well as business leaders. 

The Proof platform delivers automated analytics and visualizations that offer a holistic picture of a business journey that takes hindsight, insight, and foresight into consideration. Our analytics tool can predict future marketing and sales performances based on metrics that people can edit within our platform. 

As a result, Proof’s insights are both actionable and prescriptive to help businesses make decisions about their marketing investments. If you’re keen to learn more about our platform, book a demo with us today.