Making the transition to Big Data valuable

In a study published in March of 2012 by DataXu, 70% of those interviewed said that they are not able to productively use the data insights they collect on their customers – even though they spend time and effort collecting data and analyzing it to some extent.

Going thirsty in a sea of knowledge

With the proliferation of technology, the widespread net of digital marketing, and the countless social media posts about every subject out there, there is more information generated today than ever has been available to the general public before.  Yet most companies aren’t able to use this information to help them become more informed.

More money is heading toward Digital Marketing

Sited among the reasons why companies move toward digital marketing are:

-          Speed of information

-          Increased measurability and accountability

-          Increased engagement

-          Lower customer acquisition cost

The rewards come when you ask the right questions and get the right answers… and move quickly on the information that is relevant right now.

You’re not alone

If you are wondering if your company or even your marketing agency can handle the task of filtering out the relevant data, and organizing it in a useful manner, you’re not alone.  It’s been estimated that the US could save $300 Billion if we could better evaluate all of the healthcare data that is available.

The Why is a more complicated problem than What… it is a complex task to unravel all of the information and reassemble it in a meaningful way that will give direction to not only the marketing department – but the whole company.

Blog Comments, Social Media posts, Trends in news… A lot of Data comes in very fast.

You need analytics tools, people familiar with in-depth analysis, and someone familiar enough with the business to ask the right questions in order to get meaningful answers.

A couple of key areas to address:

-          Those who say they have access to customer data and talent/resources in analytics still doubt that they possess a comprehensive understanding of the customer or the ability to ability to measure the effectiveness of a campaign.

-          Many responded that increased measurability is a key driver of digital marketing, but the digital marketing budget doesn’t get the budget it wants because the ‘effectiveness of digital marketing is too hard to measure’.

The moral of the story –

To position yourself for the future of Big Data, you must acquire the talent that can ask the right question so your data gives the answers you want, help to make near real-time decisions on the data, distribute the information to the entire company, and work on a unifying platform for all of the big data to be analyzed in a productive manner.

There is a world of opportunity for those who can distill the Big Data into little, timely insights of knowledge and direction!!