Recent innovations have transformed consumer behavior, such as the way they search for products and services and how they finalize transactions. Alternatively, technology has also changed the way brands reach their customers. Using your company’s customer relationship management (CRM) tool, you gain access to data that provides better insights into your audience and what they want from your business.

Unfortunately, many businesses don’t use their data to its full potential, resulting in low traffic and conversion rates. The number of sales they lose as a result could have a lasting impact on their company’s financial health.

Data-driven marketing can help identify the best leads to target, influence purchase paths, and create winning customer experiences. And with most companies tightening their marketing budgets, listening to your marketing data can help you get the best ROI.

What is data-driven marketing?

Data-driven marketing is a strategy to develop campaigns based on the customer data you’ve collected through different channels and platforms. Using information such as demographics, behaviors, and preferences, you may create content tailored to individuals in your audience. It builds a relationship between them and your company.

Why data matters

In addition to better engagement and stronger relationships, data-driven marketing brings better results.

According to a study by Google, almost 60% of leading marketers agree that data-based decisions beat those made with gut instinct or experience. A data-driven marketing approach provides businesses with a holistic view of customers’ buying habits. With this newly acquired knowledge, they can develop more effective sales and marketing strategies that reach the right customers at the right time.

Data shows you what works and what doesn’t

Data-driven marketing provides full insights into your campaign’s performance. It pinpoints exactly which strategies work and which ones yield poor results, saving your company valuable time and money. This way, you can immediately make necessary improvements and avoid wasting resources on campaigns with lower conversion rates.

Segments your audience

In-depth marketing data analytics allows seamless audience segmentation and content personalization. In fact, it’s pretty common for today’s marketers to create content for an average of three audience segments.

Segmentation brings order into your marketing activities. It enables you to understand your target customers better and customize content for different audience groups, resulting in more efficient campaigns and improved ROI.

Create highly targeted campaigns

Smart marketers and entrepreneurs know they can’t employ the same marketing tactic for each prospect. In fact, 55% of today’s consumers expect personalized brand experiences. They want to receive offers, products, and communications that are not only designed for customers like them but are uniquely relevant to them as individuals.

Marketing data gives you valuable information about each target customer, including their interests, demographics, lifestyles, and online habits. Today’s data analytics tools let you analyze users’ interactions with your content and how their behaviors differ across channels.

With this data, you can create personalized content that attracts the right leads and converts them into confident buyers. Data makes it easier to tailor campaigns for customers wherever they are on the buyer’s journey. Apart from shaping your content strategy, data also lets you know the best time and place to post ads and marketing material.

When done right, personalization allows retailers to meet customers’ expectations and earn greater revenue and gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

Ensures consistent messaging

Marketing data analytics provide clarity on exactly who your ideal audience is and what they’re looking for. If used properly, such customer insights can help refine your brand messaging and ensure it remains uniform across all platforms and communication channels.

Improves product development

Data takes the guesswork out and reduces time spent on product development. It gives you access to the needs and pain points of your prospective buyers before product launch. Using data to inform the features of your product can increase consumer satisfaction and minimize the risks associated with a new product’s launch.

Another advantage of marketing data analytics is that it provides real-time consumer insights, leading to faster decision-making and better concepts for new product development.

Optimizes customer experience

Data not only attract more sales but also creates better customer experiences. Continuously tracking user behavior allows your company to evolve and adapt to customers’ changing needs.

Alternatively, data ensures your audience is only getting ads that are interesting or relevant to them. With customers receiving countless emails and ads each day, you want to ensure yours make a lasting impression.

Builds customer loyalty

Every marketer’s goal is to attract people who will not only do business with you but also be loyal customers and brand ambassadors. Research shows that repeat clients spend 67% more money than first-timers. Additionally, second-time customers refer an average of three people to the business.

Combining good customer service with data-driven content can increase customer trust, brand awareness, and repeat sales. Additionally, you can use data to segment the customer population by attributes such as recent purchases, total purchase amount, and purchasing frequency. These insights can be used to tailor special offers and rewards programs that will continue to build customer loyalty.

How to Create a Data-driven Marketing Campaign

Data-driven creative is a subset of data-driven marketing. Since the latter relies on different media, data-driven creative allows you to develop content strategies that are personalized and optimized to specific segments of your target audience.

Pay Attention to Metrics

Utilize various marketing platforms to analyze customer data. Link these platforms with Google Analytics and other online tools to get a better breakdown of the data. Doing so helps you identify consumer trends, reactions to specific marketing strategies, and visitor behavior on your website.

Set Goals on a Baseline

Identify your baseline before setting goals for your marketing campaign. It will guide you in your strategy and optimize the performance of your tactics.

  • Review your landing pages and determine their average conversion rate. Optimize the page’s web design based on your marketing data analysis.
  • Identify which customers are responding to your email marketing campaign. Create more tailored content for them to improve retention rates.

Check-in on these areas regularly to monitor their progress. Consider creating a calendar to keep track of the changes you made and how they are working towards achieving your set goals.

Develop predictive models to optimize outcomes

Data alone cannot improve the performance of your marketing campaigns. You’ll need a robust data analytics model to forecast and shape your desired outcomes.

With predictive marketing data analytics, you can forecast shopping trends, consumer behavior, risks, and opportunities that can affect campaign performance.

Pick the right channels

Data analytics can help you discover which channels your target audience uses most. The most powerful campaigns usually leverage a mix of different media and platforms to target and re-target consumers.

If you’re looking to increase brand awareness and engagement, social media channels like Instagram and Twitter can help you reach these goals. On the other hand, if you’re trying to boost foot traffic for a seasonal promotion, local SEO and PPC ads might work best.

Build Customer Personas

Gather your data and determine the commonalities among them. Use this to create customer personas that represent different segments of your audience. When done correctly, these personas allow you to create content that meets your individual customers’ needs and expectations from your company.

Develop customer-focused content

Once you’ve crafted your buyer personas, you’ll want to create valuable content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience.

Nearly 40% of marketers say content marketing is a very important part of their overall marketing strategy. After all, not only does it build and foster stronger customer relationships, it also helps you establish credibility and authority.

Marketing data analysis helps identify which topics or types of content resonate most with your target audience and the best channels to use. Although it’s easy to let metrics dictate content, don’t let the numbers hinder your creativity. Remember that effective messaging always has a story or human element behind it. Let data inspire your marketing rather than inform all aspects of your strategy.

Run Tests to Ensure Effectiveness

The testing phase is essential in building a good marketing campaign. Run tests and review the results to make the appropriate changes to your strategy. It will help you improve your messaging, potentially increasing engagement among your target audience and encouraging valuable actions.

Consider the impact of industry changes on your campaigns

Changes in marketing campaigns are influenced by various factors, including sales cycles, market trends, technological advances, and industry changes.

Google, for instance, constantly updates its algorithms to weed out websites that deliver poor user experiences. Last July 26, 2021, it rolled out a Link Spam Algorithm Update which focused on identifying and nullifying link spam. Under the new algorithm, websites that utilize link spam may be penalized and suffer a significant drop in rankings.

Digital marketing can be tricky, as anything can happen at any moment. Marketers need to be ready to respond to changes quickly and effectively. While no one can predict what search engines will do next, you can effectively prepare for industry changes by following these practices:

  • Think less about the search engine and more about your end-user.
  • Deliver content that engages at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
  • Develop a simple, clean, and easy-to-navigate website.
  • Constantly monitor your website for any changes in clicks, impressions, or ranking and correct any drops immediately.

Leverage Data with CRISPx

When done correctly, the marketing campaigns you develop can generate better leads, drive higher traffic, and increase conversion rates. As you optimize your marketing channels for better performance, you create opportunities that increase your revenue and profits.

For nearly three decades, we have helped companies innovate their brands using technology and data. We develop marketing campaigns that help you reach your target market and build lasting relationships with them.

Get in touch with our team to learn more about our services and how they will benefit your business.