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After the internet went mainstream in 1991, marketing stayed relatively the same for the next 15 years. It wasn’t until big data fully emerged as a treasure trove of business intelligence in 2005 that marketing underwent its next revolution.
In the context of marketing, there are three main types of big data that changed:
• Customer data: information on consumers’ online search and purchase behaviors that help marketers better understand their target audience
• Financial data: concrete figures that help marketers measure performance and compare against competitors
• Operational data: insights into business processes that can lead to improved performance and reduced costs
While the core goal of marketing has stayed the same — to successfully promote and sell products or services — big data has changed the way marketers achieve that goal.
Below we explore the past, present and future of big data in marketing and how it is impacting business strategies:
The Emergence Of Big Data In Marketing
While there is no doubt that big data became the top buzz word for marketers and business executives alike in the mid-2000s, the term has actually been in circulation since the early 1900s, and the concept of data analysis can be traced back to ancient times.
While the process of analyzing data and using findings to influence decisions has been occurring for centuries, the major difference now is that marketers have access to more data — a billion terabytes more.
Along with the massive amount of data itself, the term “big data” also refers to the major challenges associated with storing and analyzing this copious data that is being created every day as the internet becomes more accessible to consumers.
The explosion of big data was important for marketing because it meant a significant difference in the type of consumer data that marketers collected. Twenty years ago, the data collected surrounded point of sale transactions, responses to direct mail campaigns and coupon redemption, but now it is online purchases, click-through rates, searching behavior, social media actions, geolocation and so on.
This change deeply impacted marketing strategies because of new access to detailed information on target audiences.
In response to the explosion of big data, our team switched marketing efforts to HubSpot, an online software that can handle the increasing amounts of consumer data. We began leveraging inbound marketing, a data-driven, consumer-based marketing strategy. Not surprisingly, inbound has grown along the same timeline as big data — beginning in 2005 and reaching full fruition within the past couple of years.
The emergence of big data has sparked a need for new approaches to marketing and tools to help marketers gain important insights from consumer-generated data.
The Current State Of Marketing
Over the last two years, 90% of all the data in the world was created. Big data is here, and it cannot be ignored by marketers.
In many ways, data has become a form of currency for marketers — not to mention, businesses that invest in and properly utilize big data can save substantial monetary currency. Today, by utilizing big data, marketers can gain accurate insights into the types of content and messaging that is most effective at each stage of a consumer’s decision cycle.
There are three changes I’d recommend implementing, based on big data insights:
1. Share Expert, Industry-Related Content
Our analysis of consumer data consistently shows that consumers are more interested in the expertise businesses have to share than their products or services. Helpful content receives higher click-through rates, and, therefore, draws more potential customers to clients’ websites, where they then have access to additional brand information.
2. Publish Awareness, Consideration And Decision-Stage Content
With big data, marketers can gain insights into the types of content and messaging that is most effective at each stage of a consumer’s decision cycle. Following this idea and an inbound strategy, our marketing team made the decision to segment blog and social content into three campaigns: awareness, consideration and decision, with specific messaging to match each phase of the decision cycle. This allows clients to reach members of their target audience where they are in the process and provide them with the information they need.
3. Onboard An Advanced Software For Analyzing Big Data
Big data has reached a point where “big” is a gross understatement. In fact, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated every day. It has reached a point where no team can handle it all. Advanced software that is designed to analyze big data is critical to stay current with incoming information on customer behaviors.
Additionally, the following marketing points can be improved by big data:
• Call-to-action (CTA) buttons
• Ad performance
• Messaging for engagement such as likes, follows, shares, click-throughs and sign-ups
• Loyalty programs
• Customer personalization
• Automation for easier internal processes
The Future Of Big Data-Based Marketing
By 2025, it’s predicted more than 150 trillion gigabytes of data will need analysis.
For marketing, this means that as time goes on, the need for advanced tools to analyze and store data will grow. It’s safe to say that very soon all marketing efforts will need to invest in online software specifically geared toward handling big data. Furthermore, the big data tools of today need to evolve or will be outdated tomorrow.
Gaining a competitive advantage in your respective field will become more difficult as more marketing groups gain access to the same consumer data. This will require marketers to distinguish themselves from the pack through innovation.
As the world moves into a data-focused future, the success of marketing efforts will be wholly based on attention to detail in data analysis and effectively acting on insights in order to implement changes that will deliver improved results.
The consumer has always had a voice, but now they speak through data, and marketers must listen.
