Michael Brenner has a great ongoing interview series called the Future of Marketing and the interview he posted today with Steve McKee, Is Big Data The Future of Marketing?, really marketing alignment caught my attention. Steve talks about the “rapid escalation of big data and the tools available to analyze it” as one of the critical trends in the marketing world. He also goes on to mention that this could cause increased polarization between the analytical and creative players (or marketing scientists and marketing artists as well call them at Full Circle Insights) in the marketing world.
There is already a perceived gap between the marketers who create content (i.e. the “Mad Men” of the world) and those who track and measure the results of those campaigns (marketing operations, etc.). We cannot afford to create more of a disconnect between these two because the truth is they can’t function without each other. The marketing artists need the marketing scientists to analyze the results of their campaigns so they can find the messaging and the mediums that really hit home with their audience and create repeat successes. On the flip side of that the marketing scientists need the marketing artists because the marketing artists provide all the content that they are analyzing and reporting on.
Big data can be a divisive force within a marketing department if the proper tools are not in place to ensure everyone understands the results of every marketing campaign. If big data and the marketing analytics tools that come with it are used properly they will actually be a unifying force though. Leveraging marketing automation (MA) and customer relationship management (CRM) software, and most importantly making sure the two are integrated, is a great way first step to ensuring that everyone in marketing is on the same page. To really make sure things are running smoothly though, marketing analytics tools are needed to measure the key metrics needed to determine success on both the front and back end. The more clearly everyone in marketing (and of course the executive team) sees the results of every marketing program or campaign, understands what really drives revenue, and plays a role in closing the most deals, the easier it is to repeat those successes and keep your company successful.
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