It has been said by many people in all works of life that most of the problems we have can all be resolved if we can learn how to analyse data. If you look at the business environment today, you will notice that there are much data flowing around.
Most at times, the format of these data is different and it becomes so much to analyse data that are not in the same form, that is where Big Data comes in. In this article, I want to look at Big Data in Digital Marketing. Follow me as we will look at that in this article.
What is Big Data…
Big Data refers to an exponential increase in the volume, velocity, variability, variety and complexity of information. Just like I said earlier, with the coming of the internet, we have a large amount of data that are different in structure and type, and they are coming in at a very fast pace and this has to be analyzed accordingly.
Big Data is a blanket term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications.
Today marketers collect customer data through online purchase data, response to direct mail campaigns, social media interaction, click-through rate, browsing behaviour, and geo-location among others.
Also, Big Data can be thought of as raw material, an ingredient for better marketing that helps you to reach your customers with the right message.
It can show you some hidden information about your customers and allow you to know what your customers have in common.
Furthermore, Data itself does not play a major role, what matter most is the insights derived from big data, decisions and actions taken bring the difference.
Also, combining Big Data with marketing management strategy generates an impact in three dimensions:
#1 Customer Engagement
This will help you to know who your customers are, where are they from, what they want, and how and when they can be contacted.
It will also allow you to know what your customers have in common so that you can segment and profile them accordingly.
#2 Customer Retention and Loyalty
This helps you to know what influences customer loyalty and what makes them to visit regularly. Big data will assist you in retaining your customers.
It will allow you to know why customers are buying your products and services as well as what you can do to retain them in your lifecycle.
#3 Marketing Optimization
Big Data will also help you determine marketing spending on different channels, also optimize marketing programs through testing, measurement and analysis.
Type of Big Data Ideal for Marketing
#1 Customer
This includes behavioural attitudinal and transactional metrics via sources like marketing campaigns, point of sales, websites, customer surveys, social media, online communities and loyalty programs.
#2 Operational
This includes objective metrics to calculate the marketing processes quality, resource allocation, asset management budgetary control among others.
#3 Financial
Houses in an organization’s financial system include sales, revenue, profits and other objective data types that measure an organization’s financial position.