Using data to make marketing relevant

This requires the core competencies of marketers to evolve. They need to become more innovative with the customer information they have access to, and at the same time, they need to start looking at other sorts of customer information that they had previously not even considered collecting.

To improve how they communicate with customers, marketers need to have a deeper understanding of them as individuals. This entails more than boxing them into superficial categories based on demographic information. In difficult economic conditions, having a more intimate knowledge of who you are selling to is critical to developing strategies that are more personal and flexible in nature.

Privacy still trumps personalisation

However, there is also a fine line between invading people's privacy and understanding them better.

If a company is not invasive with its marketing messages then people are more open to interacting with the brand. Some marketers get the balance right while others are struggling to adapt. They are the ones who do whatever it takes and inundate customers with marketing messages on all platforms. This 'desperate' approach tends to tarnish the brand's reputation with its customers.

Proving your value to the CEO

Many marketers are adapting their tactics to better use the customer information they have access to, but still are not able to show return on investment (ROI). This does nothing for the relationship between marketing departments and CEOs.

A recent Fournaise study found that most CEOs do not trust the work done by marketers. In comparison, the majority of them trust and value the work done by their CIOs and CFOs. The reason is obvious. Marketing departments are perceived to live in a creative and social media bubble while CIOs and CFOs are governed by data and make informed decisions on strategies that impact the bottom-line. What they do has a direct impact on profits, and therefore CEOs acknowledge their value.

In order for marketers to improve on this lack of trust, they need to start developing marketing strategies that are focused on generating return on investment, rather than just using the latest technologies. One way to do this is by using analytic solutions that can help them make sense of the data they have access to.

Not only will analysis of customer data allow them to develop more targeted and effective marketing campaigns, but it will also give them the arsenal to demonstrate the ROI of these campaigns. And that ROI will be so much more impressive because they will have a deeper understanding of their data and customers, enabling them to seize the most critical sales moments a step ahead of competitors.

Marketing is a profession that can make a discernible difference to the bottom line of companies but it should implement strategies that talk to this. It is not just about the look and feel anymore. Customers are becoming desensitised to the 'bells and whistles' approach and are craving something that speaks to them. The new tool of choice for a marketer should be data analysis and using that to develop relevant campaigns.

SAS Institute is hosting the Marketing Trends Summit today, 17 July at the Astrotech Conference Centre in Parktown from 09:00 to 14:30 during which a panel of experts will discuss the marketing trends that will help delegates retain and acquire customers.