As Elea Feit, Assistant Professor of Marketing from Drexel University says, “Analytics won’t tell you the next big creative idea. But it will tell you when that idea is working.”
Data science is becoming more crucial than ever before for marketers. In a world where brands are competing for the slightest bit of attention from consumers, marketers simply can’t afford to throw spaghetti at a wall and wait to see what sticks. Instead, they need access to real-time information which will allow them to pivot and avoid blowing their budget on campaigns that aren’t working.
While marketing relies on creativity, it’s no longer enough to go with a ‘gut feeling.’ Marketers need to be able to prove that every action they take will have a positive impact on ROI.
While marketers have long been using descriptive analytics from tools like Google Analytics, these only provide data around what has already happened- results like click-through rates etc. Data science allows marketers to use predictive analytics, which means they can use both real-time and historical data to predict the most likely outcomes of their campaigns. This is kind of like using Google Maps to predict your arrival time at a destination since it’s continually updated as you hit traffic or take a wrong turn.
Marketing Data Science is a relatively new role that is exclusively focused on improving overall marketing effectiveness. Data scientists analyse both external and internal datasets, using the insights they find to make changes to marketing strategies based on marketing behaviour.
Marketing is by nature a creative role. Marketing teams must use their creativity to find unique and effective ways to promote brand awareness and engage potential customers. While many marketers have a number of different skill sets, they tend to be more ‘right-brained’, with a focus on the arts, intuition, imagination, and creativity. Data scientists, on the other hand, tend to be more logical, fact-based, and good at sequencing and linear thinking.
While this doesn’t mean that marketers are unable to make data-driven decisions, it does mean that employing a data scientist to guide marketing decisions is a smart move.
Here are a few ways a data scientists can help your marketing department increase sales and ROI:
Budget Optimisation
You can’t afford to blow your marketing budget on ineffective strategies. Data scientists can help you distribute your budget across campaigns, locations, and channels to get the most bang for your buck- whether you’re focusing on ROI or brand awareness.
Marketing in the RIght Place
It’s easy to distribute your marketing campaigns too broadly, particularly if you haven’t pinpointed your target audience. But this means that your marketing campaigns often become inefficient for your goals and budget.
Data scientists make it easy to use all of the data available to your business, so you can see which customer demographics give you the best ROI. And data science isn’t just useful for demographics- your customers can also be segmented by their behaviour, making it easy for you to market in different ways to customers at danger of leaving your business, clients who are the most loyal, and high-value customers.
Prioritise Your Spending
There are more advertising and marketing platforms available than ever before. From YouTube to Facebook, Email to Twitter, it can be difficult to see which channels are working and which should be left alone.
Data scientists can help you see where you’re getting the best results, and which times of day, types of messaging, and partnerships give you the most sales.
As you can see, employing a data scientist to work with your marketing team can give you access to insights that can target the right people at the right time, and spend your budget in the right place.
Looking for a data scientist or two? Get in touch today to learn how we can help.