How can a marketer understand a consumer?
It’s all in the data. And marketers know it.
While marketers seek newer and better ways to get the bead on consumers, they also have to increase their data collection efforts.
They have a ways to go, according to September, 2014 research by Signal, and the majority is clued in. Fifty three percent of recently surveyed U.S. marketers said they had upped their marketing technology investments in the past three years.
“Simply adding separate technologies isn’t enough,” notes eMarketer. “Thanks to consumer use of multiple devices each day, marketers must also focus on integrating technologies and data across channels. One-quarter of respondents said most or all of their tools were integrated, and a close percentage had at least combined their core ones. An additional 41 percent of respondents were making some moves, albeit slowly.”
Big data is where it’s at: 96 percent of marketers admitted that “fully integrated marketing technology” could have a positive, strong, or very strong effect on their marketing goals — and 88 percent had similar positive things to say about innovation.
Fully 86 percent also believed that integrated marketing technology would improve their customer relationships and create more loyalty.
“Big data’s biggest impact was on customer relationships, with 37 percent citing this as the top effect and 63 percent ranking it in the top three,” the report adds. “But respondents expected big data to transform their companies internally as well: Redefining product development, changing organization operations and supply chain optimization were all at the top of the list.”
The April, 2014 research by Accenture also found that big data needs and technology are a priority for a majority of executives worldwide, with 59 percent labeling it “extremely important.”
