5 Data-driven Marketing Strategies to Gain more Customers
Marketing has been revolutionized by data analytics. Every day, more data is produced than ever before. Consider the number of clicks of the mouse made online and each GPS pinpoint taken by customer’s smartphone. Thousands of credit card transactions are being settled every hour. All these are being turned into largely increasing varied data set. To turn this data into valuable insights, an analytics software has to be used.
A spectrum of industries all over the world uses the insights that come from this data to make logical conclusions affecting their marketing strategies. For example, industries use this data to run their campaigns and target clients as they understand them better. Consider the fact that customers buy from marketers who understand them at a deeper personal level.
Through analyzing available data, marketers are able to deliver targeted messages. This, in turn, has an overall effect of helping increase the return on investment. Through data-driven marketing, businesses can personalize customer interactions. They can also be able to know which channels are working and which ones are not. Having cross-channel visibility especially in this complex business world is of crucial importance. So what does this mean for businesses? Definitely, they have to mind their marketing strategies. If marketing strategies are not well informed, businesses end up beating around the bush. This is a move that is likely to waste resources. Data is a crucial component in marketing strategies. In this article, we cover five data-driven marketing strategies to gain more customers.
#1 The use of Demographic Data to Plan your Marketing Campaigns
Before implementing your marketing campaign, you should plan well. As part of planning, the marketer needs to know who they are targeting. One method of segmenting target market is the use of demographic data. This includes the use of data relating to age, race, religion, gender, family size, the ethnicity and also education level. Therefore, with this information, you can come up with a good marketing campaign plan.
One advantage of demographic data is that it is readily available. While filling an online shopping form, you are asked to provide some demographic data. This is called self-reported data. Further, we have census data which is publicly available and classified under the third-party source of information. Through data extraction techniques, it is possible to gain insights so as to target customers successfully using this demographic data.
Another advantage is that a business is able to build customer retention and loyalty. This is because through the demographic data they can come up with products that are customer-centric. In addition, through this marketing strategy, a business will have more contexts in their targeting. Therefore, these customers are more likely to come to the same supplier for repeat business. They will also recommend their friends and family members who have similar needs.
#2 Use Data to Implement Cross-Channel Marketing Trends
Before we discuss this marketing strategy, it is important to distinguish it from multi-channel marketing. With multi-channel marketing, it means that the business has a presence on more than one channel. However, with cross-channel marketing, it refers to providing a seamless experience across several channels. Now you understand what exactly we are referring to when we discuss cross-channel marketing strategies.
One of the toughest stages in marketing is testing. This is seen as the riskiest for the marketers. This is actually the reason why marketers shy away from multi-channel marketing strategies. Instead, a business can focus on an already proven acquisition, engagement, and retention model. If you can’t afford to take risks by starting new marketing trends, you can use data gathered from existing trends. Business should make use of this data to inform their marketing strategies. Use the differently available analytics metrics to monitor marketing trends performance. Then, once you have this information, you can now be able to tell if the same techniques will work for the new channel.
One of the most effective ways to measure performance is the use of Google Analytics. You can monitor websites and analyze a huge amount of data. This includes individual page statistics, conversion and bounce rates. Once you sign up for the Google analytics, you will be able to collect enough data that allows you to analyze trends and find new insights. You can also use third-party analytics tools or channel specific analytics tools.
A major advantage of using data-driven cross-channel marketing strategies is that it helps in increasing engagements. When you communicate with consumers via a single channel, there will be more engagements. Another advantage is that it helps in improving brand loyalty. This is what every business person wants to achieve. Having loyal customers means continued business.
A survey by Forbes magazine showed that using data based marketing tactics triples the likelihood of developing competitive advantage in customer engagements and loyalty. These loyal customers will ultimately come with their friends and relatives. Lastly, it ensures that a business doesn’t start a campaign on a blank account.
#3 Automated Data-Driven Marketing Strategies/Auto-Pilot Marketing
Data helps marketers achieve automated marketing strategies. A good example is what Netherlands flag Carrier airline KLM implemented in the recent past. The airline wanted to address the common issue of proliferation of fragmented channels. To do so, they focused on combining data to connect every touch point of customer’s journey. Through this approach, they would then be able to serve more relevant adverts. See a screenshot below on what the cross section channel; the manager had to say.
Data helps marketers come up with automated marketing strategies. What does this mean for marketers? It means that they can be able to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns. Collecting customer data means that the company will gain and at the same time the customer will gain. The business gains by being able to maximize their ROI when it comes to the marketing budget. Basically, it helps in prioritizing marketing leads and generates more leads.
Consequently, the business closes more deals increasing their profitability. On the other side, customers will be served with relevant Ads. This means that they will be able to reduce their search time since they are a targeted category.
Businesses that implement data-based marketing automation will take the lead when it comes to customer acquisition. They will also be able to attract clients who are ready to purchase. In turn, such a company achieves greater levels of success. Use of marketing automation software helps in sending thousands of marketing emails to clients automatically. The same data-driven software helps in determining which leads the business needs to engage more often.
Keeping these leads engaged means more business and ultimately increases the customer retention likelihood. How effective is your marketing automation strategy? An effective marketing automation strategy helps in maximizing the efficiency of your marketing efforts. However, to achieve this, the business must invest in collecting data.
#4 Use Data to Measure, Test and Adjust your Marketing Efforts
The truth is that you might have a very good video running on your website. You might also have a nice Social Media Marketing strategy. But how is it performing? This is a basic question you should ask yourself before investing more in the marketing strategy in place. To determine the effectiveness, you have to gather enough data. How many views led to conversion? How many clicks got you sales? Once the business determines these factors, then you can be able to establish whether to abort the marketing strategy altogether or some bits.
Your sales might be up, but the main reason is not that you are running that advert. Figure out where the traffic is coming from and implement an effective strategy to increase the sales. On the other side, your sales might be decreasing because you pulled down a campaign strategy that helped increase sales in the past. By using data to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts, you will be able to know which one works and which one doesn’t work. Basically, data helps eliminate the need for guesswork.
Once you know which marketing channel works, you can focus more on that particular channel. You invest more resources into the marketing effort. You will also be able to avoid wastage of resources thanks to marketing data. Constant measuring and testing will ultimately lead to better marketing efforts. Further, a business can also personalize the marketing efforts. This is because this offers a learning opportunity for the business. Consider the fact that as you check the data, you are also able to get insights on where it’s emanating from. Consequently, a business can focus on the source of the data as they improve their marketing strategy.
#5 Use Data To Re-Think Customer Purchasing Journey
The customer behavior is evolving rapidly. The business needs to understand customers so as to effectively target them when they are ready to purchase. For instance, there is a client who starts their purchasing journey by visiting a physical store. At the store, the client checks the available products and goes home to research about the products. Ultimately, the same customer purchases one of the products online. On the other side, there is a customer who starts the purchasing journey online and then goes to the physical store to purchase the item. So how can a business effectively secure that this customer has purchased from the business? The answer is that the business should first make efforts to study the purchasing behavior. Then, they can re-think the purchasing journey.
Listen and respond to the customer’s preferred purchasing pattern. Ensure that you can effectively respond to customers interactions. Through collecting data, a business will be able to understand the purchasing behavior and target the client when he/she is ready to make a purchase. For instance, when you look up an item on Amazon.com using your phone, then go home and check it out again on your laptop, and finally, you don’t purchase it, Amazon will start showing the item on your browser as you check other items. This is a good example of actively re-thinking customer purchasing journey.
According to Marketo.com, customers use different purchasing paths. This diagram illustrates customer purchasing patterns.
Every business should focus on studying their consumer purchasing data. Remember that this keeps changing from time to time. Therefore, there is a need for the businesses to continuously monitor these changing trends. As customers purchasing journey changes, so should the companies change their targeting techniques over time.
Key Takeaway
Data has become crucial in making major business decisions. Before making the decisions, marketers should collect enough data and make sure they analyze the data to come up with logical reasoning. These insights developed from logical reasoning should, in turn, be used in coming up with marketing strategies. Marketing campaigns should be planned well before implementation.
Use data while planning your marketing campaigns. For instance, collect demographic data from your customers to get a clear indication of where you should focus your campaigns. There are various sources of demographic data including third party and self-reported data. Third party sources include the census data while self-reported data refers to data gathered from online forms. Among data-driven marketing strategies, we have an implementation of cross-channel marketing strategies. Once you have enough data to support certain marketing trend, you can then implement it across channels.
Data is also used to inform automated marketing strategies. Above we have highlighted efforts by KLM to automate their marketing efforts. Business should take advantage of data collection and analyzing software so as to automate their marketing. Automated marketing helps the business come up with better targeting for their marketing campaigns. These automated marketing strategies should also be measured and tested for effectiveness.
Through regular testing, a business can tell where to concentrate their marketing efforts. This helps in making sure they get rid of guesswork in marketing. Lastly, another data-driven marketing strategy is re-thinking customer purchasing patterns. Customers have different purchasing patterns. It is important for the business to ensure they understand these patterns to effectively target these customers. The only way to achieve this is through the implementation of good data collecting procedures.
Originally posted on Mentionlytics: https://www.mentionlytics.com/blog/5-data-driven-marketing-strategies-to-gain-more-customers/
