Use Data to Make Better, Faster Business Decisions

When it comes to marketing your business, collecting and using data can feel like a daunting challenge. You need to see the whole picture, but your data is likely spread across too many platforms and databases, often managed by different teams who don’t talk to each other. You may be able to rely on gut instincts rather than business intelligence (BI) tools to make decisions – until your business growth outpaces your marketing efficiency. 

When it comes to complex decisions like launching a new product or developing new campaign messaging, you can use past and present data to craft predictive analytics that help you anticipate future business needs. The process doesn’t have to be a huge lift, and an early investment will pay dividends much sooner than you might expect. 

The more proactive your business is in collecting and maintaining data (customers, sales, etc.) via business intelligence tools like Google Looker Studio and Tableau, the more you can use that data to make impactful decisions. 

Your data can help you determine: 

• Which products to sell
• Your go-to market strategy  
• Customer satisfaction  

Getting Started

Harness the power of your data in three proven steps. 

1. Collect Your Data

• Identify Data Sources: Determine where your data is coming from. This can include customer interactions, sales transactions, website analytics, social media, IoT devices and more. 
• Ensure Data Quality: When managing data from multiple sources, good data can sometimes go bad. Duplicate data from two different platforms, strange date or time formats, small differences in addresses or location names—all these things can add up to create imperfect information. Data tools like Amazon Glue can identify, automate, and unify all these minor differences into a harmonious data set.  
• Consider Data Volume: Consider how much data you will collect and store. This will impact your storage and processing requirements. 
• Understand Data Types: Recognize the different types of data you collect, including structured (e.g., databases) and unstructured (e.g., text, images) data. 

2. Store Your Data

• Choose the Right Storage Solutions: Select appropriate databases and storage systems based on the nature of your data. Options may include: 
  • Relational Databases 
  • NoSQL Databases
  • Data Lakes [ ex. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure]  
  • Cloud Storage [ex. Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive] 
• Plan for Scalability: Make sure your storage infrastructure can scale to accommodate growing data volumes. 
• Prioritize Data Security: Set up robust security measures to protect your data from breaches and unauthorized access. 
• Remember Backup and Recovery: Regularly back up your data and have disaster recovery plans in place. 

3. Analyze Your Data

Extract the insights waiting for you in your data with the help of data visualization tools, business intelligence software and machine learning models. By automating data collection and visualization, you can keep your in-house and agency teams focused on giving you insights versus gathering intel.  

Here is an example of automated data visualization using JS Tapestry®, Jackson Spalding’s proprietary AI-powered reporting platform built on AWS S3 technology: 

Business intelligence-driven reports like these can help you: 

• Drive strategic decision-making  
• Optimize operations  
• Improve customer experiences 
• Personalize products, services and marketing  
• Forecast trends, customer behavior and demand 
• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) 

Data integration is a time commitment and resource investment, but there are ways to streamline the effort. An application programming interface (API) allows you to efficiently connect your data to business intelligence tools for fast and effective analysis. You can also work with a trusted partner who has the infrastructure in place to input your data in their own API, eliminating the costs of licensing BI software and the labor of building your own solution. 

Most businesses have vast amounts of untapped data that could be working for them, so effective data management is crucial for success. Investing in collection and storage proactively will help you build and execute your business strategy. 

Marketing Analytics Agency in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles

If you have questions about collecting and storing data, or using data you already have to make more strategic marketing decisions, contact us. Jackson Spalding’s Insights & Analytics team is ready to help.