Data-Driven Marketing Is the Future — Here’s Why It Matters

The future may be uncertain, but one thing is not: we have more data at our fingertips than ever before, and this is only going to become more true over time. And in this data-rich environment, how we do marketing has fundamentally changed. 

Sorry, Mad Men lovers: the days when marketing decisions were based entirely on intuitive assumptions or creative instincts is fading. While creativity matters more now than ever before due to the mass proliferation of AI-generated campaigns, decisions in today’s competitive marketing environment have to be backed by cold, hard data. 

This is reflected by the rise of data-driven marketing. Within this strategy, Creative remains a large portion of the picture, but decisions must be driven first and foremost by data. That being said, not all data is created equally. In this blog post, we’ll delve into what data-driven marketing is, why not all data makes the cut, and the benefits of adopting a data-driven approach to your marketing strategy. 

What is data-driven marketing?

At its core, data-driven marketing is the approach of leveraging data to make marketing decisions and measure success. Sounds simple, right? But data-driven marketing goes beyond spreadsheets and platform data. 

What we’re talking about is the distinction between setting a strategy and then using data to measure results, and looking at data at each step of the process. With a data-driven approach, you would: 

1. Use data to establish a complete understanding of customer behavior, preferences, and pain points
2. Use data to derive a strategy based on customer data points
3. Use data to validate and refine your initial data-backed hypothesis
4. Use data to measure and communicate results
5. Repeat

A data-driven approach might take advantage of tools like customer segmentation, personalized campaigns, predictive analytics, A/B testing, and more.

The maxim that numbers don't lie has never been more true. When marketing strategy is based on data rather than theories, you’re more likely to set yourself and your team up for success with each and every dollar. 

And rather than eliminate room for experimentation, having a data-backed strategy lets you experiment within a more controlled environment, giving you a better shot at achieving your goals. 

Not all data makes the cut

But what happens if you base your data-driven marketing strategy on inaccurate or misleading data? This is so often the case, especially if we’re talking about platform analytics. 

Nearly all platforms that sell ads have their own analytics suites that aim to let you see how your ads are performing. While these analytics suites are easy to read and access, they don’t provide the best data. They don’t create space for multi-touch attribution, and have a hard time attributing credit to other platforms or campaigns. In this way, they fail to represent the complicated nature of the buyer’s journey. 

TL;DR: Platform data is interesting, but it’s not good enough to inform important decisions. 

We need to ask ourselves: how hard is my data working for me versus how hard am I working for it? 

Many marketers keep complicated spreadsheets of different data points, collated in one place to support their decision making. But this type of reporting, no matter how skillful, will be subject to very human error and bias issues. 

This maxim also holds true: you just don’t know what you don’t know. What important data points are right outside of your scope of view? Are you looking too broadly? Should you be going deep on a campaign level? 

In-depth analytics takes precious time, and granularity is crucial today in an age where marketing is ever-present on infinite platforms and in every area of a person’s life. Each touch matters, and it’s hard to account for that in a manually-updated spreadsheet. 

When it comes to big data, machine learning has changed the game. Marketing intelligence platforms that use machine learning to turn billions of data points into digestible and actionable insights will help you wield data-driven marketing strategies in a way that really moves the needle and takes as much guesswork out of the equation as possible. 

The benefits of data-driven marketing

Embracing a data-driven marketing approach can bring numerous benefits to your organization. Here are some of the most compelling reasons to adopt this approach:

• Optimized marketing spend - data-driven marketing helps you make every dollar cent count. With data backing each and every decision, you can more efficiently spend your budget on the most effective channels and strategies to reduce wasted spend and maximize ROI. 
• Better decision-making - data is a marketer’s best friend. It provides a solid foundation to make informed decisions for impact. With strong data points, marketers can rely on concrete evidence rather than assumptions and educated guesses, leading to more effective and strategic planning. 
• Improved targeting and personalization - data unlocks the ability for marketers to segment their audience more effectively than ever before and deliver highly-personalized messages that resonate individual customers. This tailored approach can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.
• Enhanced customer insights - by analyzing millions of data points of customer behavior, marketers can gain a deeper understanding of their target audience’s preferences, behaviors, and underlying pain points. This knowledge can enable you to create more relevant and compelling marketing campaigns. 
• Real-time adjustments - data-driven strategies are made possible by near-real-time data points so marketers can quickly identify what’s working and what’s not. This allows for agile adjustments and ensures that all your marketing efforts are always driving towards the best results

Why data-driven marketing matters

Data-driven marketing is a fundamental shift that allows today and tomorrow’s top marketers to make smarter decisions, create more effective campaigns, and achieve better results with the resources at hand. While marketers have always used data, the difference at play is akin to a paradigm shift: we have access to more data than ever before, and powerful AI tools to help us really take advantage of it to drive informed action. Marketers who don’t use this data to its fullest potential risk falling behind the competition — or just a lot of wasted spend. 

By adopting sophisticated data-driven marketing platforms that leverage powerful artificial intelligence, marketers can overcome the challenges associated with data quality, availability, and reliability to make better decisions that inform better outcomes. 

In a world where every click, interaction, and transaction generates data, the ability to analyze and act on this information in a seamless and immediate way will be the real differentiator that sets marketers apart.