Data Driven Marketing: Winning Customers One Segment at a Time
“I know half my advertising is working … I just don’t know which half!”
-John Wannamaker (1905)
Over 100 years ago Wannamaker phrased the problem statement that would plague marketers until this day. Why is it that most marketers at all level of organizations still fail to address this problem? My opinion is that there remains a disconnect between what marketers claim “their Marketing” is and what they actually remain committed to which is often non-accountable marketing practices, the development of vague objectives that determine success of marketing plans/ campaigns/ advertising and in turn ineffective or non-performing marketing dollars.
As our economy continues to put pressure on executives to justify their Marketing dollars, online channels have truly emerged as the efficient ways to exchange dollars for customers. The shift to data driven marketing still cannot realize itself solely based on online channels without a firm commitment and investment in a robust a marketing data intelligence infrastructure, the alignment of channel metrics, a dedicated analytics team and a belief that marketing intelligence will guide decision making.
Until we can quantify marketing investment by channel, segment, customer and tie it back to our business objectives- marketing will not gain the place in the organization that it truly merits.
Tags: advertising dollars, analytics marketing, data driven, John Wannamaker, Marketing, marketing accountability, marketing ROI
