by Ruaraidh Thomas, MD of Data Lateral.

Recent news reports have been full of items about how brands are harnessing the power of data insight and utilising it to help inform and improve their operations and their communications processes – for example, Marks and Spencer using localised store planning as they announced recently. It is encouraging to see more brands starting to introduce this level of data insight into their marketing strategies, using sophisticated analytics to create effective value-adding campaigns.

However, although such activity is becoming more widespread and data is more of a customer-facing talking point than ever before, there is still much that brands can do with this rich knowledge source at their fingertips.

With the introduction of smartphones, digital TV and tablets, consumers are continually inundated with information from a variety of sources. Social networking, of course, has been one of the biggest developments in recent years and marketers are keen to jump on the opportunities that these innovations present. However, brands should be careful not to focus all of their attention in this direction. Consumers do not live in a single channel world, and so there is a risk of communications being lost or even customers driven away if we all lose sight of the wider picture of channels and touch-points available.

Now is the time for brands to use the opportunity of all the channels available to them; to harness the deluge of information at their disposal; to concentrate marketing effort across both traditional and digital channels; to ensure that all communications are in sync; and most importantly, that they are engaging with their intended audience.

The key to driving successful integrated campaigns is for us as service providers to help brands recognise that marketing channels are not in conflict with one another and that they can realistically work harmoniously together. With so many advances being made in the industry and marketing channels evolving so rapidly, effective and efficient use of all these channels provides a huge opportunity for brands to take data-driven marketing one step further by adapting their communications to suit each medium, whilst still keeping overall messaging consistent. 

Although many businesses have already begun to establish integrated campaigns and programmes, it is inevitable that due to the growing volume of data available, analytical and database marketing will play an even greater role in marketing strategy.

Ultimately, the brands that are most likely to be successful in their marketing efforts are those that identify the various sections of their target audience using strategic insight derived from data. The opportunity is then to create integrated programmes across multiple channels, producing results that add value to the business not just in terms of ROI, but also overall customer satisfaction.