Big Data & Digital Marketing

A key topic when trying to leverage Big Data is data integration.

Data integration can take long time and is crucial to really benefit from big data.

Silo breaking, made possible by data integration, is what can let a company move from applying short-term tactics to creating a long-term strategy.

It goes without saying that without some good questions (i.e. business objectives) even good data integration is of little use.

One good suggestion for defining the goal is to put the customer in the center, for real.

8 basic question to help you get started on the right track:

1. Who is your customer?

2. What do they need?

3. What data should you be looking for to see if you are delivering?

4. Where is the data coming from?

5. How is it stored/organized?

6. Who looks at it and how often?

7. Who is analyzing it?

8. Who is presenting it?

Here are 6 suggestions by Sarvesh Bagla on how to become "the person that everyone wants" in digital marketing. Keep in mind that he is mainly targeting the Indian market.

The 6 points are good suggestions, but definitively not enough to excel in the industry. In particular I believe that a strong focus on data and analytics is needed.

1. Be different

2. Play a lot on Social Networks

3. Develop interests outside of your immediate curricular pursuits

4. Get great at language

5. Develop your Listening skills

6. Take the lead

Great piece with lots of information and links about Big Data's new frontiers on images.

Takeaways:

1. According to an IBM survey, 70% of CMOs feel unprepared to deal with Big Data

2. IDC predicts data tidal ways keeps increasing, with social media being leaders

3. Machine learning and AI are more and more commonly applied to marketing, not just for text but also for images

4. Targeted advertisement is expected to benefit the most out of data mining

An Android Digital Signage solution has been considered "The Next Big Thing" in the DS industry for quite some time, because Android players can be very cheap.

Up to now Android solutions have proved to be un-reliable and not durable.

A patient work on:

1. hardware,

2. firmware,

3. software

could be the way to solve Android's intrinsic problems.

Will we soon witness the coming of "The Next Big Thing"?

Traditionally digital marketing agencies would have separate departments for different functions. The converged agency will challenge this model because of increasing interdependence of variables marketing channels. Silos are simply treason to good ideas because they limit scope of thinking from agencies.

The converged agency sounds like a very hard type of agency to pull off in the context of many agencies today but it has to happen because it is able to fulfil needs that the traditional agencies did not fully understand.

Based on Big Data analysis, one has the ability to capture and uncover meaningful insights that can be translated into improved ROI on marketing activity.

Here are a few lessons learned in the performance marketing world that small businesses can apply to their own efforts to exploit the potential of Big Data:

1. Use Active Tracking Links Where Possible

2. Get Granular

3. Analyse Holistically, aka avoid silos!

4. Analyse in Real-time

5. Visualise

Here are 6 possible trends in Big Data in 2015. I mainly the following 3:

1. Big Data will go mainstream -

so much that we might start dropping the term "Big" and just talk about "Data"

2. Everything with go on the cloud -

this will simplify the usage, cloud is simple, cheap and, above all, flexible

3. Analyses will become faster -

thanks to improvements in big data tools and technologies

1. Finding new markets and leads

2. Driving repeat sales

3. Reduced prospect research time

4. Predict future sales

[Just for this time, in Italian]

Il mondo del marketing è uno dei settori prediletti dei Big Data.

Non a caso, grandi aziende come Google, Facebook e Twitter sono sempre più interessate ai migliori talenti di Big Data con uno spiccato senso del marketing.

Integrazione tra dipartimenti e rottura dei silos consente di portare i Big Data al livello successivo.

E tu sai quanto la tua azienda sta effettivamente beneficando dei Big Data?

Ecco dei suggerimenti su come calcolare il ROI.

For most businesses, the digital media as a platform of choice makes more business sense because:

1. digital media is cost effective.

2. digital media makes targeted messaging a lot easier. 

3. digital marketing gives companies more freedom to adjust its campaign.

We are continuously exposed to thousands of commercials every day, standing out of this crowd is very difficult.

Many says "content is King". I agree, but it is no enough, because not all of your customers are interested in the same content.

I believe in personalisation: the content has to be **RELEVANT** to the customer.

The article suggests 10 places where to invest.

Here are my most important 3:

1. Anlytics

Because you need to be sure on what is working and what isn't.

2. Listening

Because that's the foundation for (i) offering a better customer experience and (ii) generate new leads

3. People

Because if you don't have the people on your team who can execute, all the tools in the world won't do you much good.

Here are the top 7 digital marketing trends you should be experimenting with this year:

1. Mobile Marketing

2. Social Media Advertising (This is really hot)

3. Retargeting (I wouldn't support this strategy)

4. Daily Deals

5. Geographical Targeting (My favourite)

6. Integrating Online and Offline Marketing

7. Content is King (a suggestion more than a strategy)

Choose a strategy first, and then create a Big Data project to succeed.

3 relevant cases where Big Data are already making a great difference:

1. Improve apps

2. Meeting individual needs, aka Know Your Customer

3. Enhance location-based marketing

Location-based marketing is one of my favourite, that's why it is fully supported in Web Signage, our web-based software for advanced Digital Signage solutions.

Customers are getting more and more mobile and connected. They use several channels to link with shops and stores. They use several other channels to communicate their wishes, desires and styles. This is the Omnichannel era.

In order to reach them better and more effectively one has to listen to all of these channels. One has to go big, Big Data.