The digital economy is continuing to evolve into the future and is dependent upon data for profit. Data is the driving force behind the digital economy. Not only does it inform advertising and marketing, data has become a business all its own. Some have deemed data the new oil—meaning that it will become just as valuable if it hasn’t already.
Data is sold from tech company-to-company. Everything from harmless exchanges to Facebook selling user data to Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign marketers Cambridge Analytica, the practice has become controversial. While privacy is always a concern when it comes to data sales, modern tech companies must utilize it to make their business successful. Here are a few ways that businesses can use data to improve their marketing.
Gathering Data
While it depends on what your digital business is involved in, gathering data is key to advanced digital marketing. Your company may already be gathering data in its operations, but you can also buy it from other companies. Big businesses are dealing in data more than ever before. While the morality of the issue can be dubious, if you are purchasing data that doesn't violate privacy you can feel good about it. What matters is how you are using the data and where you are getting it from.
The Cloud vs. Private Server
When your company is a digital business, you should determine what kind of data storage you should use. Whether you choose to utilize Cloud services or store the information on a private server, there are benefits and drawbacks to both. If you store data onto a Cloud service, you have the option to manage it yourself or pay a third-party to do so.
Paying a third-party to organize your data on the Cloud can make it more secure, but you will give another company access to the information. This alleviates the work associated with the IT needs surrounding data, but when you manage it yourself you will have more control. Doing it yourself requires a lot more work, but you’ll have better access to it and gain the ability to utilize data more effectively.
Customer Data Platform
A customer data platform (CDP) is a collection of software programs that creates a unified customer database accessible to other data systems. This makes the information available to you from multiple sources. It is combined to make a single customer profile that can be structured for other marketing systems. A CDP is a technology that’s utilized by marketers and customer experience professionals to improve their marketing abilities.
CDPs enable tech companies to understand their customers while scaling personalized experiences across marketing, sales, and service channels. By collecting customer identities and interaction from sources, these companies can compile them into an empowering and intelligent user-friendly interface for analyzing customer data.
Utilizing the Data
Once you have organized the data in your possession, you can begin using it in a variety of ways. One of the most effective methods to utilize data is to inform your marketing strategy. You’ll be able to create data points and make graphs that analyze the target demographics of consumers. Data informs your marketing strategy by giving you information for successful strategies and will provide an objective to guide the strategy and analyze the metrics. Depending on what your business does, it’s possible to ensure that the data will be used in an effective way.
Data is multi-faceted and very valuable. It is the basis for the modern digital economy. While data will continue to be as important to our world as oil or even gold, the revolution is just beginning. Not only can your company buy and sell data, there is value in marketing and advertising your product or service to your target demographics.
When you’re running a digital business, tech companies are forced to deal with data to be successful. Organizing this information is vital and utilizing it to your advantage can be the difference between growth and stagnancy. Data is essential to tech. Whether you are in social media, IT, a digital product, or a service, storing and implementing data to analyze your marketing strategy is integral to expanding.
Ryan Beitler is a writer, journalist, and blogger who has written about tech for a variety of publications. He has also written for The Slovenia Times, Paste Magazine, New Noise Magazine, and many more.
