An Ode to Data Driven Marketing

One of the great joys of being digital marketers is the fact that we can rely on data and measure the impact we are having in our campaigns. For too long, there was a slight disconnect between advertising and promotions with sales. I've personally believed that unless there is a greater impact on the customer decision making journey, marketing has failed its true intent. While TV and pop culture have been glamourising life in marketing agencies, the era of Mad Men always brought on tensions between marketing and sales teams.

While we have learnt to put our egos aside for the greater good, the key connecting factor has become data. Big data, machine learning and AI have opened up marketers world to measure actions by the consumer and given greater insight into their minds through digital marketing. When I started out in this field, it was seldom heard that data was the driving force behind marketing efforts. Today, it is common place.

Communication has become more customer centric, more specific even to the customer needs and platforms are embracing new technologies that help drive further data driven marketing. As marketers, we are now able to deliver specific messages to specific people at specific times in their journey with a product and brand. This has opened up a whole new world into data interpretation. It no longer serves to be non-tech savvy. Interpretation of key metrics can make the difference between what is dynamic and what is dud. So the onus rests on marketers even more to be able to analyse and deliver on data than on pure creative, blue sky and conceptual thinking. There is no corner of marketing, promotions and advertising that data has not touched. Creativity combined with science is the new edge in the marketers tool kit. Knowing what data to look out for can help better websites, better communications, better software and more fiscally sound budgets for marketers and clients alike. Without data, we would still be in the dark ages of hope, which has now become tangible to even the most shrewd and intellectually sound marketers.

This article is written by Thejas Anand on 29 April, 2023. Thejas is the Creative Director and Founder of Debunk.Agency®, a Digital Marketer, aspiring Growth Hacker and Guerilla marketing enthusiast. He has 6+ Years of Experience. You can connect with him on LinkedIn by Clicking Here.