By 2015, companies will spend nearly $17 billion on big data technologies. Are you wondering if big data has any place in your small business—or are you not quite sure what big data actually is?
Big data is about collecting, analyzing and utilizing business and consumer information to better target your market and increase sales. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a big business to collect and analyze volumes and volumes of data. If you haven’t been in business long enough to collect that much data, companies such as DataLogix partner with social media platforms to determine spending habits and also analyze loyalty card purchases.
So how can big data help your marketing efforts?
- By knowing the spending habits of millions of consumers (or your actual customers) you’re better positioned to target your message and gain a competitive advantage. Big data applications can help you uncover new patterns of customer behaviors and identify the sectors most likely to buy that product or service at a particular time.
- Big data can also help you drive sales through more effective marketing, i.e. identifying the right customers and giving them the exact offers they’re seeking.
- Marketers want to predict outcomes, and big data can help piece together multiple channels of connected data to make that easier.
Data management experts surveyed by Experian Data Quality late last year said they think contact data is the most important kind of data for marketing success, followed by sales and demographic data. Start out by developing your own system for collecting internal information, then hire an expert to help you build on your foundation of data.