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As 2023 approaches and the final quarter is about to begin, it is time to start preparing. Analyzing data, and monitoring customer behavior in response to your ads, newsletters, and so on should be among the prep work you do. Setting yourself up to gather more and better data from your website will also provide benefits going into 2023. The secret to success in those tasks may lie in big data.

Big Data – An Overview

Big data is a label for data that differs from the usual customer information, sales stats, customer demographics, and so on. This variety of data stands out from the rest in terms of:

• Volume – the amount of data available
• Variety – the distinct types of data collected
• Velocity – speed at which new data accumulates
• Veracity – data quality

A 5-terabyte file containing customer data from 2020 and 2021 is not “big” data. A continuously updating record of thousands of site visits hourly, with dozens of variables for each visitor, that goes back 24 months is a different matter. That data source has volume, variety, and velocity. Thirty million data points from 2021 do not count, either. But 30 million data points from last month, compared with the month before, would count, especially if you can be confident the data are valid.

Four Marketing Applications

Big data offers insights that companies can apply to a variety of marketing activities:

• Building better customer relationships – Through varied and voluminous data on what your customers do on your site, how they respond to emails, and so on, you can do a better job of appealing to their interests.
• Better brand positioning – You can develop a better understanding of how your target customers see your brand, how you compare with other companies, and how any efforts to improve your positioning.
• Optimizing prices – You can guess that a small price hike will not hurt sales or that a modest discount will get some more sales, but analyzing the right kind of data makes it easier to know when, how much, and for whom.
• Designing campaigns and advertising – Pricing is only one part of a good advertising campaign. Headlines, images, button text, and other variables matter; and all can be tested or selected based on marketing data.

Big data, used properly can improve a company’s advertising, branding, and marketing.

Improve Your Marketing Tactics with Big Data

The high volume and variety of rapidly changing data can support important marketing tactics and strategies.

• Content Marketing – Reports, infographics, videos, email newsletters, and other content focused on information rather than advertising is super valuable in many industries. What should be  published, though? Studying a mass of diverse data points and unstructured data, like ratings and comments, might reveal new and valuable subjects to cover.
• A/B testing and Beyond – This standard of copywriting, where you vary one key element of an ad and compare the response rate, works better in regards of the more data you have, the faster it comes in. A test of two envelope teasers might take two months, two email subject lines two weeks, and two buttons a couple of days.
• Competitor Analysis – Businesses tend to be active on two or more social media channels. What they post, when they post, and how readers respond are all things you can analyze and learn from. Numbers are valuable, but so is qualitative information on headline text, calls to action, and more. Big data applications that collect and summarize this competitor information can be useful in creating a competitive social media strategy.
• Data Analysis in (Near) Real Time – Use masses of data on site visitors, their actions on the sites, and their shopping habits to spot trends and more. Marketing is the most obvious way to use this real-time data.
• Targeting Your Campaigns – Use analytical tools to learn about open rates, click-thru rates, order amounts, and more as the data comes in. This time of data collection and analysis makes it easier for businesses to customize marketing messages and exclusive offers that will be effective.

Some Strategic Applications to Employ in 2023

Consider how to access and interpret the vast amount of data your business must capitalize on trends, influence current customers, attract new customers, and risk management.

• Capitalizing on Trends - Examine trends and buying patterns in 2022 to set the stage for a better 2023. This will help you decide where to allocate marketing resources for 2023. Some products or services fade in popularity while others gain in popularity. Traditionally, it might take a couple of months to notice that demand for something was decreasing. Now, ecommerce software offers the ability to track massive amounts of data in real-time or close to it. When you have this level of insight into consumer behavior you can make rapid changes to offers, discounts, and marketing messages.
• Influencing Consumer Behavior - Many businesses do just that. Amazon uses your purchasing history, items saved to your wish list, and even the buying habits of people with a similar purchase history to present items you might also like. A site that offers financial planning information will serve up ads for a variety of related products and services. The site owners might discover a sudden interest in, for example, reverse mortgages or precious metals. They can create and publish content on those topics to attract more readers, and charge more for advertising.
• Reducing Risks - This big data function is most relevant in financial services and healthcare. Companies in both industries handle sensitive data, and the penalties for exposing that data to unauthorized parties, or having it stolen, can be severe. Various stats on email, spam, potential bot activity can all point to specific new security threats.

Big Data and Smart Analysis Leads to Better Marketing Decisions

The vast volume of customer data and competitor data that so many organizations can access today should be used to make marketing decisions. Big data offers a vast new level of insight into different patterns and trends, so leveraging it makes business sense.