By Yogeeta Chainani, Co Founder and CEO, Swaarm
Marketing your products and services can be tricky in a constantly evolving business landscape. How do you evaluate which strategy effectively reaches potential customers and gains conversions? Moreover, changing customer preferences and market trends can pose a crucial challenge to stay ahead of the competition and achieve sustainable growth.
In 2024, the power of data-driven decision-making is more critical than ever.
As of 2021, around 85% of companies had emphasized that data, including first-party and third-party data, is crucial for their digital media strategy. (Source: Nielsen Annual Marketing Report: Era of Adaptation). Further, according to research by Ascend2 2021 , around 32% of companies had expressed intention to leverage unified marketing data using robust solutions. (Source: Using Marketing Data to Make Better Decisions: Strategies, Tactics, and Trends-Ascend2)
So how far has the power of data progressed for agencies in India and how is it impacting the measurement of KPIs?
Cutting-edge data analytics tools are helping agencies optimize marketing activities and gain insights into customer behavior like never before. Data analytics tools ensure marketing strategies thrive on tangible evidence, not vague assumptions. By analyzing complex data and uncovering hidden patterns, marketers are able to navigate the complicated waters of modern marketing and foster data-driven decision-making with utmost efficiency.
Marketers focus on KPIs as they define the success and failure of marketing efforts. Data analytics make tracking KPIs easier and evaluate the performance of a campaign much faster than traditional Excel methods. Additionally, it highlights user engagement and not just actions. For example, data analytics tools can measure the number of users performing a specific action, like filling out a form or making a purchase, rather than just measuring the traffic.
Such tools provide more granular details on all activities and visual representations, bolstering faster decision-making. Enhanced data visibility and swift accessibility provide instant data insights, eliminating the necessity to download and manage numerous CSV files for effective data analysis.
Despite the progress, some pain points are still looming large
Multiple digital channels across different touchpoints and screen sizes lead to an overload of data. It can be challenging for marketers to handle such a volume and variety of data. Additionally, many companies lack the necessary resources to deploy data analytics effectively.
The answer to this challenge is automation!
2023 was about automation awareness; 2024 should be your year of automation adoption.
Automation can be a differentiator when it comes to optimizing marketing campaigns. It helps to streamline marketing workflows like email campaigns or overall campaign management. Process-driven automation allows marketers to create and manage campaigns more efficiently and faster without burdening them (especially when working on hundreds of campaigns).
Nevertheless, data analytics and marketing automation go hand-in-hand. Both combined together help marketers to deliver personalized and targeted campaigns. Data analytics provide valuable insights about customer behavior and engagement–which can be used to schedule automated campaigns for different audiences. A study by Anteriad shows that marketers who use data analytics and automation together to evaluate performance are better equipped to deliver value (Source: The 2023 Marketing Data Impact Report: B2B Marketers Under Pressure to Prove It or Pull Their Hair Out by Anteriad)
Furthermore, data analytics platforms also help marketers to segment audiences based on different characteristics. By setting specific automation rules on the platform, marketers can automate campaigns and deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. Not to forget that these automation rules run in real-time, making data-driven decision-making ‘spot-on.’ It fosters proactiveness as the machine processes data and other workflows instantly, helping you stay on top of the game.
Account managers can set rules to meet client requirements and provide the value (KPIs) they expect. Automating 70% of their workload ensures the platform can complete most of the workload faster and achieve client KPIs on time. With automation and the human aspect intact, it eliminates errors and ensures that campaigns are always safe.
This way, automation can handle repetitive and manual tasks, whereas marketers can focus on scaling the business and client communication and strategy. Real-time data processing and analysis encourages them to serve customers worldwide and expand businesses’ global footprint. Spending time wisely connecting with clients to cross and upsell helps build long-term partnerships–all thanks to automation!
In 2024, new trends in marketing automation, like predictive analytics, will take center stage. Automation-driven predictive models can foresee which users will probably become paying customers by breaking down past customer engagement and metrics. This allows marketers to zero in on their marketing endeavors on the right crowd, augmenting the results of campaigns.
Nevertheless, changing data regulations demand companies to safeguard customer data and ensure compliance. It is essential to be flexible to new client requirements in a fast-paced marketing industry, where things change often. But this doesn’t mean companies should invest in a solution that compromises on features and may need upgrading down the line.
A comprehensive, reliable tracking solution not only meets your current needs but also evolves seamlessly with changing times. By choosing a robust, all-encompassing solution, companies can supercharge their marketing efforts and boost customer retention. A vigorous tracking solution is a strategic investment that pays dividends in the long run.
As the technology and business landscape continue to evolve, embracing a data-driven marketing approach can help agencies increase ROAS and conversions in 2024, helping them gain sustained success in the years ahead.
