Small businesses rely on strong and successful marketing campaigns in order to thrive. Marketing in the modern era requires putting significant resources into internet and technology. No matter what method a small business owner chooses to direct marketing efforts, he/she must make a strong connection with the audience. Powerful marketing campaigns are based on a strong understanding of both customers and the current economic landscape.
With reliable data, better decisions can be made on all levels of a marketing campaign. Utilizing big data absolutely can be beneficial to any small business entrepreneur who wants maximum results from a marketing strategy. The process of accessing big data may create some complexities for small business marketers. These complexities can be overcome with the right insight into how and what to do when integrating big data information into marketing.
Choose Big Data Sources Wisely
Big data cannot just be a collection of generic information. The data must be clear, detailed, and provide something of significant value. One positive bit of information to point here is numerous outstanding sources of big data do exist. Marketers do not take advantage of the most viable and productive ones. And the choice is vast.
A solid analytics program on a website could reveal a lot about visitors and their habits. Google Trends could provide even more sophisticated information capable of generating valuable data. Utilizing a Hadoop cluster to examine unstructured data might be even more revealing. Just take the extra steps to utilize the data properly and deal with certain difficulties inherent in relying on big data in a marketing campaign.
Figure Out What the Data Means
Reviewing data requires completely understanding the data in order to make use of it. Memorizing content in a data report doesn’t exactly do much. Looking closely at trends emerging within the data, however, can be extremely beneficial. For example, if consumers seem to be spending more money on a service at certain times of the year, marketing plans can be timed to coincide with the calendar.
Not every small business owner may be able to completely and accurately analyze the data on his/her own. Outsourcing the analysis to a third-party remains a viable option. The added cost may be worth expending if it leads to improved sales thanks to a better data-based marketing campaign.
Purchasing Data from a Reputable Source
Yes, companies do specialize in the acquisition and sale of data. Enterprises of this nature are hardly new. Simply recording responses from a focus group and offering the answers to private customers serves as a long-time source of data. In truth, small business owners won’t ever run short of sources for data. A source, however, should be a reputable one or else its data might be suspect.
Look at the company’s history and perform online research to determine its credibility. Whether the company draws its material from basic questionnaires or online analytical programs means nothing. Big or small, the service must be legitimate and its data valuable. Don’t purchase anything until you can be sure the source is credible and delivers quality material.
Look at Ways to Improve the Current Data Collection Process
The collection methods currently being employed may prove to be inadequate. If there are problems with the data, steps should be immediately taken to arrive at improvements. An online analytics tool that doesn’t provide actionable data would be best replaced with a program capable of delivering better results. Among those results could be significant business growth.
Using a single source for data may also be inadequate. In this case, look to increase the number of tools and sources being utilized. More sources of data mean more information that can be put to use in a marketing campaign.
Don’t Forget to Market the Business
The primary reason to collect the data in the first place is to use it in a marketing campaign. When the data is acquired and not utilized effectively, time and money will have been wasted.