Data Strategy - The Backbone Of Personalization

As data has become more available than ever, it remains central to the MarTech industry, powering the tools and technology that help us reach individuals on a personal level. With that in mind, the most important asset for marketers has become the singular consumer profile view which, if executed correctly, can shift the end customer experience substantially.

The ability to add to and learn information about an individual and tie it back to them directly allows for better personalization in downstream content, making it more engaging, relevant, and memorable (i.e. more personal). Individuals marketed to at specific times, with relevant content, are more likely to engage in your message and thus go on the buyer’s journey.

While this singular entity vision is hard to achieve, it is not impossible. The sheer amount of data at our fingertips, coupled with the rapidly emerging IOT industry, makes having a data comingling plan, attribution strategy, and, subsequently, single source of truth all the more important.  As with all things in the MarTech world, it comes down to the data.

Particularly, it starts with fundamental techniques in data wrangling and data identification, allowing disparate sources to be combined and keyed into a singular unique identifier. This persistent identifier will connect to and be referenceable by tables that contain similar customer information. The most valuable marketing tool for any organization is their own first party data. This makes identifying and combining and owning it extremely important. Additionally, identification and data security go hand in hand, as it is easier to secure data when it is consolidated, and you know where it is located.

Once this is complete, the data needs to be cleansed, restructured, and enriched with third party data to make it more usable. Validation rules should then be applied to verify the consistency and quality of the data, which in turn will make it even more secure. Finally, data can be used downstream in marketing applications, the structure of which now making it possible for quicker decision making, actionable insights, improved campaign performance, and ultimately enhanced customer experience.

Enhancements in cloud infrastructure, bandwidth, storage, and real-time connectivity will speed up the rate at which things can be accomplished with personalization reaping the rewards. The natural evolution of singular customer record is hyper-personalized marketing, which will become a necessity across industries with the increase of additional data available. More than ever, data across the tech stack will be utilized to power tailored search, digital advertisement, addressable TV and radio, probability and relevancy models, and CX enhancement, resulting in connections to brands being even more individualized and intimate.

As personalization becomes a growing marketing necessity, so does the importance of unifying internal marketing data. The two are tied at the hip. Consolidation allows for better understanding of your customers, which in turn provides lookalike audiences, preferences, enhanced data properties, and, most importantly, facilitates the personalized customer experience craved by today’s marketers.