Authored by Srihari Palangala, Sr. Director & Head of Marketing, India, Dell EMC
“I see customer satisfaction as the outcome of applying the science of marketing. It is the ability to understand the customer, to recognise their needs and wants and to provide them with the right offer or response depending on how the interaction took place. However, customer loyalty is dependent on the art of marketing, creating an experience that forms an emotional connection, where empathy is established by reflecting the values, thoughts and aspirations of the individual. This takes creativity and innovation.”
- ‘Marketing Undressed’ by David Newberry
The balance between the art and science of marketing has been in play for some time now. And in our digital world today, where customers can connect with brands 24x7 and online/offline, striking this balance is particularly important for marketing teams to raise the bar in terms of performance and business impact.
Over a period of time, the discipline of marketing has shifted from being noticed and prominent above all noise to staying relevant to customers across the purchase and consumption lifecycle. It implies that the art and science of marketing need to work in tandem with the aim of delivering an outstanding experience to customers.
Data Drives the Science of Marketing in a Digital World
Businesses are in lock-step with their customers and prospects, and buyers constantly leave a trail of data points around their possible interest areas, engagement, and purchase. And in today’s digitally connected world, data drives the science of marketing.
The science and technology available in marketing enable collecting these data points from multiple touch points with customers/prospects. And when marketers start connecting the dots, they can bring forth insights that businesses need with regard to their prospects.
With a large volume of data now available, we can make complex queries on the data sets—both in real time and on demand—to bring forth actionable insights and targeting. Further, in digital campaigns, it is also possible to measure real-time engagement, feedback, and explore the areas to innovate and improve.
The science in marketing ensures that almost all elements of the marketing funnel can be measured based on the impact it is having—and if it can be measured, it can be improved, too.
The science also enables marketers to have a firm seat on the table—demonstrating the value and impact of marketing activities on the business. Leveragingthis science, marketers can ensure that all stakeholders can see the value of marketing in the business and a pragmatic approach to customer satisfaction.
Research from MIT reveals that data-driven marketing strategies go a long way in empowering our decisions, helping us gain an edge in the market, and driving us to push the boundaries of innovation.
As an example, an analysis of the audience who is most likely to use our services or products is an effective way to create abuyer persona. After evaluating further, the buyer personas can be refined. And this is where the importance of A/B testing for a campaign, which helps decide changes that should be incorporated to get an improved outcome.
The Art of Marketing Rests on Asking the Right Questions of the Data
In the digital world, art—delivering the right expression to resonate well with customers—can happen when we ask the right questions. The science of marketing, as described above,helps us gather all the data. The art of marketing rests in asking the right questions based on the data and observing the patterns in customer engagements. And that constant probing against the data starts to make the difference. Continue to push the envelope by asking the right questions and you can make a real difference to the outcomes from your campaigns!
Once you ask the right questions – you can test your hypothesis easily and experiment/pilot with campaigns. And start scaling those campaigns more broadly, as they resonate and engage with the audiences.
In the world of marketing, we can continue to challenge ourselves, raise the bar, and move beyond the conventional when we ask those questions from the data gathered.
Finally, when the right questions are asked, responses to those form a campaign approach and a great (i.e., concise& clear) brief for marketing partners to execute campaigns creatively and drive great brand resonance and loyalty.
Striking a Balance between Art & Science
Marketing is about creating demand (and going beyond “leads” that are just one but important, a measurable manifestation of demand). When science (Data) and art (Questions of the data) come together, they work in a continuous loop: Sensing(Collecting the data) -> MakingSense (Questions of the data) -> Acting (Targeted and Creative Marketing campaigns) -> Back to the loop on Sensing; a stellar marketing team comes together in this loop and constantly works to evolve and set a new benchmark for performance and impact.
Very true when you say that "data drives the science of marketing" but data at times works like a double edge sword especially in marketing and advertising. Use of data and metrics is possible in matured industry and where the outcomes are tracked, measured for progress or success. Our experience in advertising industry is contrary to what expressed in the article. Most of the end customers love to see, work with data, analytics etc but the intermediaries in the end-to-end chain of operations finds it more of a threat.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree and appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.
Its true that "data drives the science of marketing" and at times data behaves like a double edge sword. Data and Metrics are efficiently used in matured markets but seldom in advertising and marketing. Our experience with data, analytics and measurement has been contrary. End customer embraces data to evaluate the outcomes or success but the intermediaries in the end-to-end operations feels it as a threat. I absolutely agree and appreciate your thoughts. Thanks for sharing.
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