3 Ways Digital Marketers Can Harness the Power of Data

Industry experts share growth opportunities, advice for reskilling employees, and more.

On September 27, General Assembly Singapore hosted a conversation on the power of data for digital marketers, moderated by Prerna Prant, COO at Circus Social. Over 120 people from a wide range of industries attended the event, held at the The Hub Singapore.

General Assembly brought together four unique perspectives: Jerry Blanton talked about Citi FinTech’s approach to embracing the latest financial technology. Samit Chowdhury brought in the perspective of the multinational food-packaging company Tetra Pak, which is helping its customers develop their digital marketing strategy. Jessica Beaton explored how the global agency network dentsu X helps brands create integrated and personalised marketing solutions. And Kenrick Drijkoningen brought the perspective of a venture capital firm.

Here are three key takeaways about how marketers can leverage data:

1. Track performance to identify growth opportunities and product-channel fit.

There obviously are challenges when it comes to identifying growth opportunities for your brand.

Citi FinTech’s Jerry Blanton advocated for the importance of developing an attribution model to evaluate which types of offers will generate the best types of customers. Having customers land on your webpage is a decent start, but Citi’s customers then have to go through the credit card application process — which is where the most dropouts happen. In an attempt to mediate the problem, Citi focuses heavily on analytics in that part of the funnel to understand when, why, and how people drop out. The team then iterates based on its findings. Through changes in design and the nature of the offer that brings customers to the page, marketers work to optimise the process so it feels worth their consumers’ time.

From VC Kenrick Drijkoningen’s perspective, while companies often think about product-market fit, they tend to forget about product-channel fit. For startups with smaller budgets, he advises focusing on a few types of channels, content, and metrics to evaluate what engages users the most. dentsu X’s Jessica Beaton echoed this by explaining that having only one source of data and tracking it accurately is one of the best ways to get started and sort out leads. It’s crucial to set up your tracking from the beginning (through Google Analytics or any other tool available), as this infrastructure is what will allow you to do effective testing.

2. Invest in hiring experts, but also in reskilling valuable employees.

When asked for advice on managing talent, Tetra Pak’s Samit Chowdhury advised to invest in people who can drive initiatives, and described the process Tetra Pak goes through:

1. Start by hiring experts and generating internal successes.
2. Uplift essential knowledge and training to a larger audience.

Tetra Pak enlisted General Assembly to teach its team competitive skills, placing marketing directors in Digital Marketing Immersive courses with GA in locations including Modena, Italy; Lund, Sweden; Singapore; and Shanghai, China. The process is similar at dentsu X, with a strong focus on upskilling clients to help them build in-house teams who have the latest, most relevant skills they need to successfully compete in the field.

Drijkoningen and Blanton offered interesting perspectives on how to acquire talent with the most effective skill sets.

Blanton suggested that since a given number of marketing skills, expertise, and experiences are often missing in the talent pool from the banking sector, Citi looks to hire marketers with no banking experience at all. Its goal is to find strong marketers first, who can then learn the ins and outs of the industry second. “The last thing we need is more people with banking experience,” he says. “We are looking for people who are consumer marketers and understand the audience.”

Drijkoningen echoed this from the startup perspective, and advocated for bringing in new talent and training them up. With the tools available both online and in workshops, the return on investment will be significantly higher when working with teams that understand the products as much as you do, rather than working with outsiders.

3. Evaluate whether marketing automation is right for you.

According to Blanton, Citi relies heavily on programmatic advertising and uses it extensively for retargeting. Regarding automation within the marketing funnel, however, the process today is entirely manual, which is both time and labour intensive. Citi is aiming to create a dynamic pricing system through machine learning, with the goal of treating every customer as a segment of one.

While there is lots to do in terms of programmatic at the corporate level, Drijkoningen suggested manners of automation that can make everyone’s job easier, such as setting up Google Analytics tracking to automatically record data. Beaton agreed that programmatic is essential, but because it takes a while to set up, she advised startups to focus on optimising EDM (electronic direct mail) and content marketing instead, as those are both inexpensive and easy to execute. Optimisation should be the first step to build the infrastructure before scaling up and being able to use automation, she said.

What’s Next for Data-Driven Marketers?

The session concluded with a discussion around the new technologies our panelists are trying out. Blanton said he looks forward to continuing to develop machine learning tools that target customers with individual offers in real time. Beaton is excited to share how dentsu X has started using neurotechnology to go beyond what customers are telling brands, mentioning UNIQLO’s UMood. This technology allows brands to look at actual response signs and behaviours, instead of looking at self-reported behaviours.

Having worked in China, where smartphones are used differently than anywhere else in the world, Beaton also referred to QR codes as an excellent way to get things done in this particular market (they haven’t caught on in the same way elsewhere). China’s complex language is partly responsible for QR code popularity there, and mobile users will commonly scan the codes to get quick access to brands online. With phones having automated QR code readers, brands are able to create incredible AR experiences without needing customers to download an app. It’s a great way to get content to customers when and where they need it.

Chowdhury added to Beaton’s point that connectivity across ecosystems is crucial. QR codes are a straightforward and entertaining way to collect data, but it is necessary to connect data all the way from your supply chain to your marketing activity.

At General Assembly, get the crucial skills your company needs to be at the leading edge of digital marketing. We upskill, reskill, and benchmark teams by training them in today’s most in-demand skills in web development, design, data, marketing, and business. We also provide onboarding and hiring strategies to solve talent gaps within your organization, and host exclusive events like this one, led by industry leaders.