ijento WhitePaper What Marketers Need to Know NOW About Big Data

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iJento WhitePaper

What Marketers Need to Know NOW

About Big Data

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Clearly Big Data is one of 2013’s biggest topics. But what’s it all about, and what does it mean for marketers?

If you asked 20 marketers the question, “What is Big Data,” you might get 20 different answers. Its enough to make us want to bury our heads in the sand, and dismiss Big Data as just the latest buzzword. However, if you do that, you could be exposing your business to significant risk.

According to a 2013 PwC Digital IQ Survey, 62% of respondents believe Big Data will help them deliver competitive advantage.

So as marketers, we urgently have to ask ourselves: what is the competitive disadvantage of not understanding and harnessing the power of Big Data in our marketing now.

Here’s your guide to what marketers need to know about Big Data NOW so we can stay ahead of the competition.

What Is Big Data?

As everything we do in the world increasingly becomes digitized – like

eCommerce, hanging out with friends via social networking, or how your waiter now enters your order through a handheld device at your table - the amount of data being collected is exploding. According to a leading research firm IDC, the world’s data is growing 50% each year, and doubling every two years.

Big Data is the term that has been widely adopted to describe these large and ever-growing amounts of data now available to organizations.

62% believe Big Data will help them

deliver competitive advantage.

1 PwC’s 5th Annual Digital IQ survey, 2013.

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Why Has Big Data Become So Important, So Quickly?

The increasing volume and detail of the information captured is growing exponentially. A few years ago this meant data could be managed by a few in- house specialists, but today the implications of data are now wide reaching.

There are logistical challenges in managing, sorting, and maintaining this data;

but there are also the subsequent benefits from having these large quantities of data available.

A recent McKinsey’s recent report² suggests, “Leaders in every sector will have to grapple with the implications of big data.”

So what will the implications be for marketers?

2 Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity. McKinsey Global Institute. May,

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Big Data And Marketing

Marketers need to be aware of the impact of Big Data in three key ways -

1) Big Data Will Become The Basis For Competitive Advantage

Big Data can support almost every single marketing objective - from deeper customer profiling and targeting, to campaign analysis

and even predictive analytics. Overall, most industry experts agree that Big Data, when handled effectively, will improve marketers’ decision making.

The near future: All digital marketing planning, tracking, and measurement will be supported by sophisticated

“dashboards” updated with real-time insights enabling marketers to rapidly deploy activities and continually optimize.

What you need to do today: Set up a meeting with your in-house analyst, analytics agency, or IT team and CIO

to discuss current status of data, the businesses road map, and how marketing is going to be impacted.

Some organizations are setting up in-house Big Data “working groups.” Does your organization or CMO have one? Bag yourself a seat at the table or suggest the idea to your CMO, CIO and CEO.

2) Creatives Will Take A Back Seat To Data Scientists

Traditionally marketers develop “…“big ideas” around 30-second TV spots and then try to coordinate their radio, print, and online campaigns to match.”³ Now that the majority of adults across the globe not only online but also using the web to manage everything from their shopping to their personal health, this

Data

Scientists:

“The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century.”

3 The Interactive Brand Ecosystem: Put Interactive Marketing At The Heart Of Your Branding Campaigns.

Forrester Research. November, 2011.

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approach to marketing has to change. Forget Mad Men’s Don Draper, the

Harvard Business Review says that data scientists will be “the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century.”

The near future: Marketing will become insight led. The majority of that insight won’t be purchased from external agencies, or even commissioned from market research companies - you’ll start with your own customer data set and augment with external data as required.

What you need to do today: If you have them, start inviting data analysts to contribute to marketing planning at the strategic level (they can also be used to help set up-front metrics) instead of solely relying on them for retrospective reporting.

In preparation for an anticipated skills gap in the near future, set up an in-house up-skilling program now. Have your marketing and data analyst teams regularly shadowing each other in their respective roles to gain a greater understanding of what the other does.

3) Don’t Be Paralyzed By Big Data. Get Started With Your Data

With such great expectations around Big Data, it seems that marketers are meant to reinvent marketing almost overnight and start benefitting from the much-promised insights immediately.

However, simply getting started can seem like a daunting task when data is sitting in different places, coming in from all varieties of digital channels, CRM systems, analytics tools, and on and on. “How can I conquer Big Data, when I can’t even conquer My Data,” is a common marketer’s refrain.

“Forget Big Data,”⁴ says Rufus Pollock, Founder and Co-Director of the Open Knowledge Foundation. “The real opportunity is not big data, but small data.

Size in itself doesn’t matter – what matters is having the data, of whatever size, that helps us solve a problem or address the question we have.”

4 “Forget big data, small data is the real revolution.” Rufus Pollock. The Guardian. April 25, 2013.

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With small data in mind, its OK to start with a small project and build from there.

For example, you might decide to first get all your data into one system that can analyze it, or you might start with just a small data segment from one channel in order to understand and optimize that channel first. You might even have a critical question you want to answer

and build on, such as “How are my customers using different devices to interact and purchase?”

The near future: The perfect storm for marketers is underway – but in a good way. It truly is an intersection of more data, advanced marketing analytics technology, and a rise of the marketing department to have a true seat at the strategy table. Your company will need to rely on your insights about your customers as never before. Data will be the competitive currency of the future, and the marketing department has an unprecedented opportunity to help drive strategic decisions with its customer insights.

What you need to do today:

Figure out the critical questions the marketing team needs to crack to gain a stronger competitive advantage, get organization alignment on the

questions, and then build a game-plan to get the answers from your data.

Start with a small project, leverage what you learn to expand and build your competitive advantage.

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About iJento

iJento helps marketers transform their data into actionable customer intelligence so you can get to know your customers and improve their customer experience.

We help you answer today’s most pressing marketing questions, such as:

• How can I acquire more new customers faster?

• How can I get a single view of my customers across channels, devices and interactions?

• How can I understand what my current customers are likely to buy next?

• How do I predict which prospects are most likely to buy now so I can target my marketing dollars at converting them?

• How can I predict which of my customers are at risk so I can take preventative measures?

Our Customer Intelligence Solutions create complete profiles of your customers by “stitching” together visits across all devices into a full picture of their

preferences and history — we call it Customer DNA.

From your Customer DNA, we can create advanced segmentations that predict which customers are most likely to buy, what they are most likely to buy next—

and which ones are at risk of buying elsewhere.

This vital information is waiting in your data. iJento finally gives you the power to unlock it and set your data free.

For more information about iJento, please visit www.ijento.com.