As a dedicated integrated media and advertising technologist long supporting the dawn of personalised advertising (aka database marketing, perhaps aka as scientific marketing), I clearly see the use of data, clearly see the advantages of correctly applied data, and see the confusion which might be widespread throughout our industry when the next question is asked:”Is there a right procedure, methodology for its use of information — big or little?”
Two sides of the coin
From the standpoint of this brand and the customer, properly applied data will (hopefully) shorten the sales cycle, provide greater degrees of targeting and possibly raise your ROI or user satisfaction levels. Correct use of data will also set the customer in a position to trust your brand, feel in your message, feel wanted and desired. Check out the sidebar contained in this report. Incorrect use of data can be, at minimum, a disaster.
Something old, something new?
There is nothing new to data and its use in advertising. What has changed in my view is that the varied availability, quality, depth and comprehension of the information stream and also the many tools that are available to quantify your use (successfully I hope) of big or little data.
Many entrepreneurs use the analogy of DNA to say the thickness that contemporary data can reach, but after some consideration I feel the better analogy is a fingerprint. A mic to be used in court must satisfy no less than 10 clearly defined and recognizable markers; anything less doesn’t really recognize the suspect. More markers provide less questioning of the suspect and much more added confirmation of the suspect involvement and match to your brand — does that not seem more like marketing use info than DNA? A key advantage of this viewpoint allows one of the brand, to define the markets because your need dictates!
Picture credit: (c)iStock.com/johan63. Demographics include age, behavioural, gender, place, media used, buying cycle, buying history, income, hobbies, demographic snapshot, and so on. The advantage of a data fingerprint is you can specify the ridges and valleys based on your promotion requirements and further define your niche. Illustrated as illustrations only.
For me, the fingerprint analogy may be used to not only identify present or possible customers, but could also support your comprehension, the quality and use of social media selected, more fingerprints on the media selected or used could be indicative of defining the value or liking the chosen media — electronic or social networking. You are able to use many different monitoring tools — attribution applications, to follow, track the fingerprint path from media to media measuring the networking, length of time with all the networking, where the media leads and the number of other people have”touched” or been referred to the media and the marketing tools provided. Does that make sense to you? It does to me.
Practice the fingerprint trail
When we keep the fingerprint analogy, a customer or potential will leave their fingerprint when they use a service, purchase a product, behave through a network, or trigger a call to action. I call this path the customer/prospect travel. As you can guess, every journey has some generic parts, but the more we as marketers can define the travel, the more secure, the more personal, the more applicable, the more integrated and interactive we can make the journey. The measured end result should be positive; of course, depending on your program’s goals and objectives and how well you target and use the data.
The CIS of marketing
Your analysis of information should begin with the correct choice, analysis, examination and get of behavioural, place, buying, social and other elements of their data or demographic stream. This Client Integration Plan (CIS) is the primary component in the successful use of information within your marketing plan. Infact according to a recent article by Natasha D. Smith,”Data is everywhere”…”it from the customer’s POV feeds virtually every aspect of life” and allows the brand to”map or monitor” the electronic fingerprint. Very accurate, but data, such as computers, live by the announcement”garbage in and garbage out”, a statement we in the digital world are all too knowledgeable about hearing. When thinking about that the datafication of your marketing, your headline must be”the suitable use of information, the suitable use of information and yes the suitable use of information” stated along side of good information, good data and good data.
Sidebar: I am a dedicated sailor, yet a significant brand within the marine industry continues to send me non-sailing (power boating) promotional material despite my most petition to have them STOP. They not honouring my petition have moved in my (PEZ) Private Engagement Zone to the trash and by not understanding my needs (sailing vs. power boating) have alienated me from perhaps ever purchasing on their brand. Not to mention the wasted cost of each and every mailing, email and catalogue they ship to a non-interested party!
The fingerprint of Information marketing
How can you specify the right use of data? It’s a challenging question with many — as you can imagine tough answers determined by your particular program, goal and objectives. Just like many marketing campaigns your proper use depends on your goals and objectives, but with information use you will need to think like a pilot — a pilot is never flying in the distance that the plane occupies but at the distance the plane WILL occupy — in short think ahead, well ahead of the current need think of this end game!
Use this checklist to Begin your information process (not in order of importance):
How have or how can your prospects/customers behave over a predetermined timeline?
Is your target in the practice of purchasing, looking, or researching?
Are you currently in pre-tail, retail or a post-tail plan?
How do age, income and other demographic”markers” affect your strategy or requirements?
Is your target a B2B, B2C or C2C Industry?
How would specifically define your consumer/prospect/customer?
What is the value and use of your networking mix?
Are you contemplating”smart or scientific” marketing tools such as Social, Mobile and Location or SoLoMo?
Is your requirement to construct awareness, activate an inactive base, and”touch” an existing consumer/prospect/customer or other?
Are you seeking to discover new purchasers, a repeat buyer or something in between?
Define your information selection by use, media and age choice of the consumer/prospect/customer or client.
How will your client get your use of the information?
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When you link your objectives, objectives to relevance, interaction (media use), integration and the metrics you’ve got more then start the development of your information overview. Data like advertising impacts your profitability, your bottom line and needs to be looked at as one of those critical elements of your advertising profitability, marketing is a profit center, and information may just be the data CFO!
Data Has to Be reviewed and relied upon
Data does not necessarily relate to selling, it must also be based on listening, creating dialogue and establishing participation. According to a recent article by Liz Morrell, Pizza Hut is using information that is based on the consumer’s requirements not only to the brand’s benefit except to support the customer.
“We are constructing a menu with new items to push and improve the guest experience but we also should make certain that the items we add will build our profitability and drive company performance,” said Andy Platt, strategy director for Pizza Hut Restaurants.
Last month the company announced a makeover of a number of its London restaurants — presenting a new interior layout and revamped menu partially based on data derived from APT’s analytics programs including APT’s Test and Discover and Menu Analyzer software suite.
Can there be a future of information use?
I see the future of information use as a transformative process, a procedure that’s incorporated with attribution, monitoring and measuring metrics linked not just to the fingerprint of the consumer/customer/prospect or client but also connected to the markers left by the user — yes information is a living component of promotion. The fingerprint of every individual press by use along with also the perception of the value of the media dependent on the perspective of the consumer/customer/prospect or client are critical.
Data will be and should be used to enhance the client experience, or, as Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi stated:”Marketing is dead. Plan is dead. Management is lifeless. Company is currently all about creating a”moment” of individuals with shared values – we feel the entire world in five perceptions”. Correctly chosen data can and will allow you to achieve this new target, reinforce this goal and boost the”moment”. Correct use of information, not incorrect or arbitrary use of information, will be your mark to MROI and also the first step in capturing update, repeatable and privatised data.
A goal for the future use of data: your brand will aggressively use information to construct your marketing strategy round the fingerprints of the ones who best fit your targets and objectives as well as linking the information to the five awareness and meet the moments, enhance the consumer experience and from this wide use of data, develop your revised upgraded and lively vault of CIS based info. Data that is as personal to your brand as is the message into the consumer/customer/prospect or client.
The Last word
When there’s a single word that can define the correct use of information, it’s optimisation. If you correctly optimise your data, you will see the positive profitable results of your effort. If you do not use data properly then your consumer/customer/prospect or customer will optimise their search with their applicable optimized criteria to find a brand that does.
