Marketers that integrate and analyze all available enterprise data, while applying real-time insights such analysis delivers, will ultimately deliver a better customer experience, stronger brand differentiation, and faster growth, according to a survey conducted by Teradata Applications.
More than 2,200 marketers around the world responded to the Teradata Date-Driven Marketing Survey 2013 – which examined how companies worldwide are using data to drive marketing and create sustainable competitive advantage.
Here are some key findings from the survey:
Nearly 50% of marketers agree that data is the most underutilized asset in their organization, with less than 10% saying they currently use what data they have in a systematic way
71% of marketers say they plan to implement a Big Data Analytics solution in the next two years
Just 18% of marketers say they have a single, integrated view of customer actions, yet it is one of marketers' top priorities for future improvement
75% of marketers who try to calculate their Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) encounter problems, mostly due to the lack of system integration
42% of marketing executives agree that integrating the cross-channel customer experience is a top priority
Nearly 65% of marketers agree that silos within their marketing department prevent them from having a holistic view of a campaign across channels
The survey reveals that most companies today are trending toward leveraging their data to drive marketing on a more systematic basis to measurably increase profits. But as organizations make the transition, they are encountering challenges that have little to do with actual technology adoption, and much to do with both the shortage of data analytics skills and the continued use of unrefined marketing processes.
As a result, many companies are starting with marketing, addressing enterprise-wide process implications, and making operational adjustments required by tighter marketing and IT integration. Big Data analytics skills and digital marketing savvy are increasingly valuable to companies today because together they help drive more revenue, better margins, more efficiency, and ultimately more profits. Companies are not developing a data-driven marketing strategy so they can use technology to analyze more kinds of data; they are moving to it because it can help them make more money.
"Marketers are most effective in generating revenue when they are able to put all their data to work to deliver the most relevant offers to consumers," Darryl McDonald, president of Teradata Applications, said in a press release.
Senior-level marketing executives in enterprises over $100 million have largely the same priorities as the marketers working under them. The top three reasons companies are adopting data-driven marketing strategies are to:
1. Improve Efficiency
2. Prove effectiveness with outcomes and metrics, and
3. Achieve better cross-channel integration.
Nearly 80% of all marketers report feeling pressure to become more data-driven. The marketers who say they are feeling significant pressure are more likely to be in Campaign Management (39%) and Data Sciences (40%) roles.
About half (48% of all marketers are still using data on an ad hoc basis, while a third has embedded it systematically into their standard processes. In the next 12 months, 56% of marketers expect to be using data to systematically drive their marketing.
A little more than one third (36%) of companies say they routinely use data-driven marketing to customize messages and offers to improve customer experience and campaign performance, according to the survey.