There's an expectation that if you deal with customers you will have data. And that the data you have will be something you can look at, even aggregate, draw insights from and ultimately USE to market your business, either directly to existing customers, or to a wider audience with a greater understanding of their needs.
But, as soon as you google Data and Marketing you hit "Big Data" - and for SMEs (or any business) dipping their toes into the data lake for the very first time, the term Big Data becomes very scary, very fast.
Big Data is defined by Search Cloud Computing as:
"the extreme volume of data, the wide variety of types of data and the velocity at which the data must be must processed. Although big data doesn't refer to any specific quantity, the term is often used when speaking about petabytes and exabytes of data, much of which cannot be integrated easily."
They go on to discuss the technical, cost and personnel hurdles faced by SMEs when venturing into Big Data and whether it's really a necessity in their article: "Why haven't SMEs cashed in on Big Data benefits yet". And they have a point - at the scale many SME's operate, Big Data just may be too much to deal with.
So, let's just put the whole idea of Big Data to one side and start simple with our top tips for starting out using the data you've got:
Focus on just plain old data for starters.
Plain, bog standard data. The simple stuff. Name, Address, Phone Number, Email Address, Age, Gender, Date of Acquisition, Purchase History, Contact History and so on. Most small businesses have this information, but it's probably stored in a few different places and it probably takes quite a while to get it into a state where it can be analysed and any patterns or opportunities identified. So before you worry about going big, get your existing data sorted. Investigate CRM software options, find out what others in your industry use, think about the data you have now and the data you want in the future. The goal is to get it into either one place or to have an interface that can pull it together for you so you can analyse it and understand your customers better both as a group and as individuals.
Sort out the short term with the long term in mind.
The scale of your enterprise and the services you provide, coupled with the long term goals for both your growth and positioning will dictate how much hardware, software and personnel you need to invest in. There are so many companies that can sell you great solutions - the trick is to know whether you really need one just yet and what that solution needs to look like down the track. If you decide to invest, don't cripple yourself trying to do get all the bells and whistles immediately. Technology is advancing, suppliers are innovating and customer needs are changing - the chances are, something you set up now will be obsolete (or heading that way fast) in 2 to 5 years. BUT don't take a short term view either. Ensure that what you do implement now can either scale up or transition across to a platform that gives you more advanced marketing features in the future without excessive additional investment in time, effort and technology. That way your investment in now will pay off in the future too.
Get your ducks in a row and toe the line (especially when it comes to email).
There are laws about collecting and using personal information. But it's all too easy to dump your contacts list into MailChimp and start firing out marketing emails. Don't. Ideally every member of your marketing database will have given express permission for you to contact them with marketing messaging. Chances are, they didn't. Regardless of whether you believe you should be able to send to your list or not, read these guidelines by Mailchimp - if you burn your list by breaking the rules you will not only face a possible fine but you will also cause ISPs to blacklist you and then your emails are literally dead in the water.
So to ensure you are conforming to best practice AND the law:
- Get permission to email your list
- Have a privacy policy that your customers can access
- Keep your contact list up to date and clean (i.e. remove customers who have left, died, moved, emails have bounced etc.)
- Only send messages that the customer will see value in receiving
Use your data to create VALUE
If you are just skimming (and fair enough, it's a lot to get through) then I mentioned in the list above that you should only send messages that the customer will see value in receiving. This right here is the TOP TIP! The reasons why are many and varied, but boil down to the fact that a message that has no value to a customer will be ignored at best, or at worst, you'll lose them completely. If a customer unsubscribes from your email list, you can't send them another marketing email unless they give you permission all over again. Given that email is the most cost effective mass reach marketing tool you have, it's vital you treat it with care.
The simplest way to make sure you don't send worthless messages is to segment your database. Old news right, but incredibly hard to do if your data is in five different places and incomplete because Sharon forgot to fill in a couple of fields. (That's why this tip is not at the top of the list - you have to have everything else in place before you can truly create value for your customers).
Start by breaking your list into segments based on their data, it might be Age, Gender or Location, or it might be that they bought a 1995 Prius - it doesn't matter, as long as the message you send relates to something you know about them. Over time you'll learn more and be able to use smaller and more specific segments. Before you know it you'll be ready to sink your teeth into that long term plan.
Ultimately, marketing is about delivering better service.
At the end of the day, if you have customers, your job is to service them. From government departments to Mr Whippy van drivers, the public are your reason for being there. Whether you personally work on the front line or not is irrelevant. If you gather information about how people use your product or service, who they are and why they deal with you, then use that information to do the best job possible. If people in Remuera prefer chocolate, make sure the ice-cream truck carries extra cocoa and Flakes before you head that way. If Marion's dress size is 12, don't send her a sale catalogue that has only sizes 8 and 16+ in stock. Call households that have kids before 5pm and if your most profitable customers are elderly, provide seating and ramps in store. Marketing is about customers. If you get that part right, and make what you do better for them, they'll get your message loud and clear.
And that's the whole point right?
Five by Five doesn't sell data solutions, but we can help you use the data you have and plan when and how to implement third party solutions.