In this day and age, when data and analytics have an increasing influence over organizational decision-making, there’s no excuse for being in the dark on who your target audience is and what exactly they want.
The growth of technology over the last decade has empowered marketers to collect and leverage massive amounts of data across the varying stages of their buying cycle.
The times of blanket mass broadcasting have long disappeared. Sophisticated tools are now paving the way for marketers to reach wide audiences with pinpoint precision.
You no longer have to guess the demographics of your audience. Instead, you can build accurate and relevant strategies just by following the trends found in your data.
Of course, being data-driven is much trickier than it would appear. Many companies claim to have data at the forefront of their decisions, but the reality is much different.
Marketing departments often fall short in this area because it’s hard to find experts in the fields of predictive analytics and amplification. It’s a challenge to unify internal factions and automate without any human touch.
Ultimately, only a handful of businesses have the conviction to rely on statistical insights to drive the composition of their campaigns.
The question that arises, then, is how does one become truly data-driven?
Leveraging Data-Driven Insights from Paid Search
Let’s begin with the actual gathering of data and the most direct place for that to come from.
The definition of data-driven marketing refers to the construction of strategies based on information that is compiled from consumer interactions and engagements online.
While there are many channels and opportunities in which marketers can collect big data, search engine marketing is the most effective.
Just consider that every click on a paid ad and subsequent conversion has elements across the entire journey that can be tracked and reported on.
You can translate these learnings and correlations into other marketing campaigns. Why wouldn’t messaging that drives conversions on SEM resonate with your consumers elsewhere?
That’s a hypothetical question.
The answer is that they will. You have valuable data on your consumer preferences:
- Searching habits.
- Pain points.
- Backgrounds.
You could predict future behaviors and deliver omnichannel personalization at scale. This will ensure you cut through all the noise and clutter and stand out from your competition.
Increased engagement and more actions will help you reach your business goals.
Here are a few areas in which you could integrate paid search insights.
1. Retargeting
Retargeting is a critical component of any successful marketing operation.
Since the practice itself is based upon the premise of reaching out to people who have previously purchased from you or exhibited interest in specific products or services, retargeting efforts will clearly be more powerful when you have access to a stockpile of data detailing precisely who is looking for what.
When executed correctly, retargeting can elevate the consumer experience and improve the quality of visitors to your website.
2. Social
Social media marketing is an important outlet for all digital marketers, offering a conversational space for brands to:
- Increase awareness.
- Drive website traffic.
- Increase sales.
Keywords and messages garnered from paid search could easily be rotated into social to create engaging stories. You’d be surprised how many marketers are not doing this, though.
If some creative ad copy is generating high click-through-rates and conversions through SEM, why wouldn’t you replicate that social?
3. Email
As you collect all sorts of demographic and behavioral data concerning your prospects, take a second to think about how powerful that can be when employed on an individual basis.
Armed with relevant information, you can distribute emails with extremely personalized messaging, speaking to the prospect directly and creating a one-to-one connection.
You can further leverage the technology available today set-up nurturing campaigns that automatically respond to consumers’ actions and help guide them through the sales funnel.
4. Amazon Shopping
The comparisons here should be obvious. In a recent study conducted by Jumpshot, it was found that 54% of consumers now go directly to Amazon when looking for a specific product.
In short, it’s vital that you’re just as visible on Amazon as you are on Google.
While the two are not the same and require different strategies, learnings can be applied from your paid search efforts on Google.
Again, consider the keywords that are successful; consider the messaging that is generating clicks.
Feed this back into your Amazon ads and product pages to turn shoppers into buyers.
5. SEO
Claiming a top spot in the organic segment of search engine results pages is valuable for businesses.
Gleaning findings from SEM data is the best way for SEO professionals to do that.
Armed with such insights, it’s possible to filter specific themes and then estimate search volumes for select keywords or phrases.
Having access to information that determines what content is appealing to specific demographics is incredibly important for those working with SEO.
Wrapping Up
In the end, consumers want to see content that’s useful to them.
In an era when buying cycles are becoming increasingly comprised of micro-moments, it’s paramount that your business is there:
- With the right messaging.
- Every step of the way.
- Across multiple channels.
The way to do this is to run a well-oiled data-insight-execution machine.
Continuously switching modes from data collection to driving wide, large-scale implementations will be a challenge. It will require tight-knit coordination between your various internal marketing factions.
The results, though, are undeniable.
Consistent, coherent, and accurate messaging will be rewarded with:
- Enhanced engagement.
- Brand trust.
- Brand perception.
Over time, this will turn into:
- Increased purchases.
- Advocacy.
- Most importantly, loyalty.
The future of data-driven marketing remains bright.
As predictive tools and machine learning-powered marketing continues to proliferate, a data-driven approach will be an essential component of marketing organizations.
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