Think Disruptive; Overcome top marketing data challenges

Whether its AI, GDPR or Big Data, marketing agencies are inundated with marketing data challenges. According to research from the Winterberry Group and the Global Direct Marketing Association (GDMA), nearly 80% of marketers see customer data as critical to their marketing and advertising assets.

However, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council found that just 7% of marketers feel able to deliver real-time, data-driven engagements across all of their touchpoints.

So, what are the marketing data challenges stopping brands from delivering one-to-one experiences and how can they overcome them? MarketingTech investigated…

Ensuring quality over quantity

When marketing and data is done right, it drives value. And it’s an area that consumers support, with recent research revealing that consumers view brands adding value for their customers as an acceptable reason for their data to be used.

To ensure they are providing value, marketers need to make sure they have accurate and relevant customer data. Not only will it help them to align with customer expectations, but the quality of data can have a significant impact on the bottom line. Low-value data leads to poor performance, and studies have shown this can result in a 6% loss of annual business revenue, MarketingTech explains.

But with more data than ever before, how can marketers ensure the quality of the data they collect remains high?

Data management tools help provide marketers with clear data assessments. This tech should continuously monitor and filter data input to ensure the removal of low quality or expired data.

But there’s always going to be a need for marketers to investigate and understand the datapoints which drive actionable customer insight. Even machines need a brief!

Silos equal an incomplete picture

With data coming from so many different sources, insights can end up being collected in fragmented silos with, for example, website visit activity stored separately to retail store purchases.

This leaves marketers unable to connect all the pieces of an omni-channel journey together to create a complete picture of their customers. And without this full picture, they can’t produce truly tailored and personalised communications.

Thankfully, AI can now combine different datasets and provide deeper insights. The merging of sources means marketers can now have a 360-degree view of the customer journey, allowing them to keep pace and determine the best time, platform and message to deliver to maximise engagement.

Lack of data analysis skills

The Accountability in Marketing: Linking Tactics to Strategy, Customer Focus and Growth report from Xaxis and the Economist Intelligence Unit found that more than half (51%) of the senior marketers questioned cited weak data analytical skills in the marketing department as a top challenge they faced.

Discussing the findings with The Drum, Axa UK’s chief marketing officer, Darrell Sansom, said: “Data is useless without the ability to analyse it and gain insight that lets you talk to the right customers at the right time and makes you more likely to be effective.”

Again, AI can help marketers make sense of the data in front of them. With machine-learning tools, AI can discover new ways of understanding data. But that doesn’t mean that marketers have to be left outside in the cold. MarTech Today explains that AI can, and should, show marketers what data it used and how.

Any more marketing data challenges? GDPR is coming!

With the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May next year, marketers will need to ensure they are safeguarding user privacy. One of the main aims of the new data rules is to give consumers more clarity and control over their data. But this doesn’t mean data will become obsolete.

In fact, the need for transparency will provide brands with an opportunity to build trust with consumers and stand out as leaders of data protection, showing that they are using the data to create the most value.

It’s time for marketing agencies to get smart with their data, and use tools to ensure the highest quality data is being used to improve marketing efforts and deliver truly personalised customer experiences.

Fireworx is ready to help you make the most of your data and deliver effective cross-channel campaigns. Call us today to find out more about solving your marketing data challenges.