Fellow Digital Marketers: How To Save Yourself (And Your Company) From The Flood of Big Data?

Yes. The flood is already here.

Part of Infographic from IBM

As IBM calls it, big data is coming to us like a flood. I couldn't agree more. In today's digital age, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every single day. (That's 18 zeros) The wealth of data collected is simply overwhelming. Being an aspiring digital marketer, one question always pops up in my mind: what do you do with all these data?

Graph from EMC2.com

Not surprisingly, one of the primary usage of big data is to gain more insights on the consumer. These insights can be use to improve the efficiency in segmenting and targeting our customers. While segmentation and targeting are nothing new, big data grants us the power to do much more. Given the sheer volume of information, it is possible to predict with unprecedented accuracy. Furthermore, big data is used to draw correlation that is the most surprising. Would you have thought that orange vehicles are about half as likely as others to have defects?

However, can big data tell the whole story?

Pinterest's emails to users on Sept 2014

In 2014, Pinterest had an email blunder. It is a clear example to highlight the limitation of the big data. While the data can reveal amazing insights, you still need a human being to validate them. The incident could have been avoided if someone in the marketing team reads the email again before sending it out.

Given the capability of collecting all sorts of data, it has gradually become a norm to make sense of all these data. Recall the last time that your boss or your business partner asks, "There got to be data on this somewhere. Why aren't we using them?"  In fact, they are not wrong. However, the issue is not that we do not have enough data. We have too much of it.

What do you do then?

Here's a 3-step survival guide for all fellow marketers drowning in the flood of big data.

1. Get on a Boat

Or Ark in this case, Image from BigDataDigest.com

It is easy to overlook the importance of basic things. You need to hold on to something that lasts to ride out the waves. In other words, establish a long term strategy to constantly and continuously leverage on the data collected. When big data has become part of your strategy, you have won half the battle.

2. Get the right tools

Image from Mccom.com

A: Binoculars: to look forward

Big data has granted us with the amazing power of predictive modeling. Use these data to understand how individual consumers will react to different types of benefits and offers. While prediction of future based on data in the past may not be 100% accurate, it serves as a strong reference towards marketing decisions that we have to make. No one knows the future but wouldn't you like to have the odds in your favor?

B: Sails/Oars: to drive forward

With big data, we know our core competencies better. We know which product, which campaign and even which keyword are performing the best. These knowledge drawn from big data would serve the guide as to where we need to put our effort and our money in. This is how we drive our business forward.

3. Hire a Crew

Image from BoatingCartoon.com

Yes. Big data does not run on its own. It is almost impossible to peddle out of the currents of big data with you being the only person on board. The values of marketing analyst lie on the ability to understand what data to collected and what to make of these data collected. Sometimes, asking the right questions is all it takes to make things work.

Last but not least, ride the wave!

Yuwan: According to data reported on the Wall Street Journal, wearing glasses makes you look smarter. What do you think?

Thank you for taking another bite!

James