In this article we’ve listed our top data-driven marketing trends for 2024 to help you think about the year ahead and ensure you’ve got all bases covered.
Marketers have access to more customer data, from a wider variety of sources than ever before. Those that leverage this data intelligently, creating new insights to improve positioning and targeting, will be the ones that outperform the market.
The market itself is a dynamic one. Changing consumer habits, increased regulation and economic uncertainty, all make decision making that much harder.
So, the more customer data the better, right?!?
In many ways, yes. But, it’s critical marketers know how to manage their data sources, visualise the right pieces of information and make sure the integrity of the data is never compromised.
Why have data insights become more crucial than ever in marketing?
Firstly, competition.
The digital revolution has evolved the marketplace to such an extent that you can no longer place the same reliance on customer loyalty. Competitors can pop up quickly, plug in to a wide variety of data sources and deliver products and services that undercut your offerings, easier than ever before.
More broadly, data plays a pivotal role by providing valuable insights into consumer behaviour, preferences and trends. Through data analysis, marketers can gain a deeper understanding of their target audience, enabling them to create more personalised and targeted marketing campaigns. By harnessing data-driven insights, businesses can make informed decisions, optimise their strategies and allocate resources more effectively, ultimately leading to higher return on investment and better outcomes.
Data also allows marketers to measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts accurately. By tracking key performance indicators such as conversion rates, customer acquisition costs and customer lifetime value, marketers can evaluate the success of their campaigns and make adjustments in real-time to improve results.
What is data-driven marketing?
Data-driven marketing refers to the strategic approach of using data and analytics to inform and optimise marketing strategies and campaigns. This methodology relies on gathering and analysing various types of data, such as consumer demographics, behaviours, interactions, and preferences, to gain actionable insights. These insights are then used to create more targeted, personalised and effective marketing efforts.
By leveraging data analytics tools and technologies, marketers can segment their audience more effectively, tailor messaging to specific customer segments and deliver highly relevant content across various channels. Ultimately, data-driven marketing enables marketers to optimise their campaigns, enhance customer experiences and achieve better outcomes by aligning their strategies with the needs and preferences of their target audience.
7 Data-Driven Marketing Trends for 2024
1. The buyer journey has changed
As we highlighted earlier, the buyer journey has changed.
The proportion of digital expenditure has greatly increased and in lots of cases market segments have become incredibly price sensitive.
This impacts two main areas of an organisation’s strategy. Product positioning and customer experience. From a product positioning perspective, it is crucial marketers get their hands on data that tells them who is buying their products and how they are buying them.
Customer experience is potentially the last differentiator in a world of commoditisation. Offering that extra level of care, or support when customers need it, goes a long way to influence behaviour, such as repeat purchasing. And in the digital age, customers are quick to share their experiences, good or bad.
2. Brand loyalty fading
For the reasons outlined above, brand loyalty is no longer a guarantee of success.
Shoppers are incredibly savvy these days and have a range of methods to ensure they get the product they want, from the source they want and at an appropriate price.
Marketers, therefore, must meet their potential customers where and how they like to shop. This means having the right digital presence, signing the right partnership deals and understanding more about your customers than your competitors.
3. Enriching your first-party data has become crucial to success
The first-party data you collect and hold on your customers creates the foundational building blocks of your broader marketing strategy.
Enriching this data, with other authoritative sources of information, such as the socio-demographic data available within tools like Mosaic, will allow you to broaden your marketing scope.
Instantly, you’ll have the ability to match audiences, overlay profiles, and really dig into the details of your targeting efforts. Which in turn will ensure you reach a wider, but importantly, more accurate audience.
4. Personalised experiences
We’ve discussed the commoditisation of markets already and how customer experience is a key differentiator. Personalising a customer’s experience is a crucial part of delivering a seamless and enjoyable customer experience. After all, customers are looking to be impressed.
With the data you hold you must think about targeting your messaging more accurately, how you could customise offers for people, and how to make the general process more immersive and interactive.
Get it right and you’ll have customers telling their friends and family how much they enjoyed purchasing from you.
5. Disparate systems and tools that don’t talk to each other
This is not a new trend.
Organisations have been falling down in how they plug together their technology for a long time. Systems need to speak to each other and marketers need to be able to access a single source of accurate information.
Without it, their decision-making processes are flawed and their positioning and targeting work will be inaccurate. Ensuring you use valid sources of data, appropriate processes to store and update that data and a simple way to visualise it, are all extremely important considerations for the modern marketer.
6. AI is here to stay
We’ve seen an explosion in AI technology in 2023.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT made AI real for everyday people (think, “write me a poem” or “give me a recipe”), and software vendors have been quick to integrate Large Language Models (LLMs) into their B2B technology offerings.
AI is a double edged sword though. Yes, it has the power to automate repetitive tasks and help write content, but it also must be handled with care from both a security and authority perspective. Organisations need to protect their IP (and their customers’ PII) and validate what AI has said before they take it as gospel.
7. Content is King
The volume of communications in all markets is a real blocker for marketers. How do you stand out from the crowd? Content.
We’ve already identified that personalised and highly targeted communications will improve engagement rates, but so will being relatable and timely.
This is where knowing as much about your customers as possible is crucial. So you can position, target, and message with confidence.
Deliver improved customer insights by acting on these marketing trends
We’ve established that as a marketer, the more relevant and insightful data you can get your hands on the better.
We’ve also established that the market is evolving, becoming more complex and customers behaviours have changed since the pandemic.
Working, therefore, with credible and proven data providers is essential if you want to outperform the competition.
Mosaic from Experian is the world’s most comprehensive consumer classification and segmentation tool.
With Mosaic you can:
- Select the right audiences and understand their preferences and behaviours
- Position your product or service offering with authority
- Personalise your marketing campaigns in great detail
By modelling every Australian household to classify them into one of 14 Groups and 51 Types, based on their likely behaviours and preferences, Mosaic acts as the insight tool you wish you’d always had.
Understand who buys from you. Understand where those types of people exist elsewhere. Understand which channels they’ll respond to. And, ultimately, win more business.
For more information about the latest marketing trends, Mosaic or any other Experian marketing solution, contact the team today.