Paying attention to data has become fundamental to marketing best practice today. No fully effective marketing strategy can really be created without input informed by data, such as responses to previous campaigns or analytics of consumer behaviours. As we enter an era of data processed by artificial intelligence (AI), new opportunities arise to refine marketing strategy to make goals more achievable and outcomes more productive.
The importance of data collection
In order to refine your marketing strategy, methods must first be put into place for data collection. There are an enormous range of different options to consider here, including collecting data on specific goals that have been defined in a marketing strategy (e.g. conversions or email open rates). A/B/ testing or multivariate testing offer opportunities to start collecting key data about campaigns that can be used to help make changes to strategy to make it more accurate.
The application of AI
Forward-thinking businesses are already seeing the benefits of applying AI to all that raw data to help identify key opportunities to refine marketing strategy. What’s different about using AI is that there is no time lag. Data can be collected and analysed from marketing campaigns in real time.
Machine learning means that the data gathered can be instantly converted into actionable insights that enable ongoing improvement – so, the AI is constantly working towards achieving the desired goals by making adjustments to the variants involved. This means that data can be quickly and effectively employed to refine both ongoing strategy and also marketing campaigns as they are in progress, making both more efficient and productive.
More accurate audience segmentation
Getting a clear and up to date picture of an audience that is the target of a marketing strategy can almost instantly increase its effectiveness. Data has a significant role to play in making audience assessment more accurate and effective.
While, traditionally, defining the audience is a process that takes place before a marketing campaign has been launched, now – thanks to the options that are presented by using AI – actual campaign data can be fed into audience segmentation to make the process more effective.
Embracing big data
One of the major barriers that most businesses face today is not a lack of available data but an excessive volume of it. Processing raw data manually can mean coming up against limitations in terms of the number of variants that can be dealt with. For those businesses looking to get past this potential obstacle, embracing big data will be essential.
Solutions to this are being developed all the time, many of which involve AI. For example, algorithms already exist that will test a range of variants against one another, pick the “winners” and then continue to test in an ongoing cycle to improve and refine the outcome.
Data is already at the heart of an effective marketing strategy. If you’re keen to find ways to refine your planning then it will be essential to also invest in tools, such as AI, which enable any brand to make the most of the data available.
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