Of all the uses of big data analytics for businesses, one of the most popular and effective is its utilization in the marketing world. With detailed information about customers, brands, and marketing efforts, it’s little surprise that big data would make such an impact among marketers of all types of companies. When it comes to marketing, big data solutions are plentiful, but the more that marketing becomes data-driven, the more worry there is that the emphasis on numbers could end up crowding out the more creative side. For many years now, creativity has dominated the marketing sphere, but with more businesses leaning toward the importance of using data to influence all decisions, creativity has almost taken a backseat. The key to achieving new levels of success for marketers is the effective combination of both sides of the equation.
Measuring creativity is, of course, a difficult if not impossible task. Needless to say, excellent use of creative minds leads to more successful marketing campaigns. Many times, it comes down to a marketer’s intuition over what will be a good marketing strategy. If they have the right creative mindset, success is just around the corner. Measuring the effectiveness of big data, on the other hand, is comparatively more straightforward. Big data can reveal hidden patterns and insights which might be overlooked. It helps businesses understand their respective marketplaces even more. And perhaps most importantly, it shows companies who their audience is and where they should spend most of their time.
At first glance, data and creativity appear to be on opposite sides of the spectrum, resulting in a conflicting vision over which route is best taken for a marketing team. However, thinking the two simply don’t work together would be misguided at best. If anything, both data and creativity work best when combined, and that combination is optimal when the two are used to balance each other. Creativity in marketing without data can be chaotic. It might still hit some of the intended marks, but it will rarely reach its true potential. At the same time, data in marketing without any creative force behind it ends up feeling rigid, cold, and routine. It might get some good results as well, but it will likely only be fraction of what it could be. Data-informed creative marketing should be the goal, and striking that balance is the main challenge.
Many marketers have slowly come to this realization. It’s not always been the easiest journey. Some marketers have needed to learn how to properly utilize new technologies in order to make the most of big data. From customer relationship management software to the latest in flash storage array technology, there is a wealth of information to study and no perfected method for using it. Even so, marketers can take the information gained from big data tools to drive their marketing efforts. One of the most prominent uses of big data is gathering and analyzing data from customers, all to understand who they are and what leads to them making decisions. By using the insights from big data at the front-end of the creative process, marketers can then create marketing campaigns that best target those audiences that will be most receptive to their work. This is personalized and customized marketing at its finest, utilizing the strengths of both creativity and data to achieve impressive new goals.
For those companies that have put this strategy into practice, the results have been promising. Equifax, a credit monitoring company, used information from the big data gathered on customers to craft a campaign that focused on the life stages their targeted audience often faces. The same technique was used in a campaign about identity theft where marketers looked at the impact the crime could have on customers. This resulted in more personalized campaigns that spoke to people more closely than before. Creativity and data worked hand in hand, and more effective marketing was achieved.
This is only scratching the surface of the potential that big data and creativity bring to the table when used together. A creative marketing campaign could be sold to executives when backed up by big data. New platforms that use big data will require creative minds to market. The Internet of Things will change things up immensely. If there’s one thing to take away from these developments, it’s that on their own, big data and creativity can only do so much. By combining them, marketers will be optimizing their efforts.
