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As technology advances, so do people’s needs and wants—which means each full-service digital marketing agency should, ideally, be reinventing itself regularly. Data-driven marketing trends are quickly becoming a popular strategy because they allow you to gather information from every part of a customer’s journey.
Data is the new currency of marketing.
87% of marketers say they have more leverage than ever before with their investment in digital advertising, but only if they use it properly—and that means understanding how to read and analyze the numbers.
Brands should be looking at these metrics closely because businesses that do, drive at least five times as much ROI compared to those without any knowledge about what makes good business sense from an analytics perspective.
The most important thing to keep in mind, when employing a data-driven marketing strategy, is that there is no one-size-fits-all method. Every company has specific needs and different ways of engaging with customers.
What is data-driven marketing?
Data-driven marketing is an innovative strategy that uses customer information for customizing, optimizing, and targeting media buying. It is often done by combining a traditional market research approach with audience segmentation.
Traditional market research consists of gathering opinions from target consumers by using surveys or focus groups. Audience segmentation relies on statistical algorithms and machine learning technology to understand target consumer behaviors. Especially when looking at how audiences interact with their digital surroundings.
The benefits of data-driven marketing
What is so great about data-driven marketing? Well, it comes with some great benefits to help market your product or service as best as possible:
Personalized marketing
With data-driven marketing, you can create highly targeted campaigns with personalized messaging for each customer. The information about their interests and online activity will give businesses insight into what types of content resonates most with them. It also lets you know where ads or materials should be posted, and at what times of the day your target audience will most likely see them.
Improved product development
Data can help with this by letting us know what consumers want. Tailoring the value of your products according to their needs will keep them coming back again – which means higher conversion rates too.
Improved customer experience
You are not only providing goods or services, but you are also providing experiences. By gaining data and insights into how your customers are experiencing the buyer journey of your product or service, you can tailor it and improve it accordingly.
Opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling
Data-based marketing provides you with information to help move prospective customers through the sales funnel quicker and more cost efficiently. In addition, data can show untapped opportunities for cross-selling throughout your entire conversion process that may have gone unnoticed before.
Data-Driven Marketing Trends in 2022
As time goes on, new software and platforms are developed, data laws are changed, and the needs of consumers change. Therefore, new data-driven marketing trends emerge to help businesses navigate the current best practices. Here are some of the highlighted trends that are expected to play a big part in data-driven marketing in 2022.
Increased personalization expectations
Personalizing experiences is the key to keeping customers happy and satisfied. According to research, 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from your brand if they receive personalized service or products in return!
A higher focus on first-party data
As the ability to capture and use third-party data becomes increasingly difficult, businesses and marketers are turning towards first-party data. With restrictions on both ends of the equation cutting down drastically due to recent regulations like GDPR (GDAlaw), this is an important step in ensuring that companies can still gain insight into customer behavior without having any personally identifiable information revealed.
More touchpoints along the buyer journey
A recent Google study found that there are between 20 and 500 touchpoints for any given purchase — and consumers expect their experiences with brands to be perfect at all of them!
Your approach needs not only to identify which marketing channels work best but also to allow them to fit into your overall storytelling around the brand’s journey.
Artificial intelligence
Businesses and marketers are depending on AI and marketing automation to scale their personalization efforts. However, leading companies have already started embracing the power of this new technology, such as optimizing ad bidding strategies down to capturing insights using phone calls at scale without needing human intervention.
Brand and niche communities
A great way for companies to capture user data is through comment sections, discussion forums, and social media platforms. By leveraging these (on their own or with the help of custom SMO services), they can gain insights into what consumers like or dislike about their products as well as how often certain topics come up in conversations among different users within these areas of interest-sharing.
Omnichannel brand experiences
Today’s customers are looking for a seamless experience across all their marketing channels. Omnichannel marketing provides personalized content and messages that will drive customers towards specific products or services, no matter where they may be in the process of interacting with your brand online.
Data-driven marketing insight tools
Navigating the world of data and marketing can be a challenge, and it’s easy to make mistakes along the way. Luckily, there are some tools to help you out:
Web analytics data
With web analytics tools like Google Analytics, you can track the actions of your visitors on a minute-by-minute basis. You’ll know how they were interacting with different parts of your site as well as what content motivated them to come back for seconds (or maybe even thirds).
Mobile App Data
Your mobile app is an excellent way to get insight into your consumers’ interactions with the brand. Similar to Google Analytics for web, with Google analytics 4 (specifically designed for mobile apps), you can see how your users spend their time on it, what features have been popular among users, and more, so that you know where to best focus future efforts or develop new ones entirely!
CRM Data
CRM platforms are a powerful source of insights into your customers’ behaviors and preferences. With data from all channel interactions, you can segment audiences based on their past behavior with the company to ensure that their tailored experiences fit accordingly.
Crazy Egg
Google Analytics and Crazy Egg work together to provide you with the information needed for optimizing your website. While Google Analytics provides a pretty good holistic overview of the user data on your website, Crazy egg allows you to get a more in-depth view of user behavior.
Capsulink
Capsulink is a personalized, smart short link management and targeting product that automates content delivery to the end-user according to geolocation, language, device types, and/or browsers.
MailChimp
Mailchimp is a comprehensive tool that allows you to keep tabs on everything from emails to social ads and more, right in one place, without having to jump through any hoops or dealing with complicated interfaces. Its real-time stats show you exactly how well each campaign is performing so that it’s easy to make smart decisions about what your next steps should be.
Survey Anyplace
Survey Anyplace is a software platform that enables you to create personalized & interactive surveys, quizzes, and assessments. The answers to these surveys provide valuable insights.
Data-driven marketing is constantly evolving, and with the help of new technologies and emerging trends, businesses can create a unique experience for their customers. By taking advantage of data-driven marketing practices, you can improve customer engagement and increase sales. Have you tried using data to personalize your customer’s experience? If not, contact us to help you get started with our 360 Degree plan!
