Do you know that over 80% of startups totally ignore marketing data when they are planning their marketing campaigns? Most of them would do some basic research like social media listening, find out what is trending, and just jump on it. A lot of businesses do not take the time to maximise marketing analytics data to power their marketing campaigns.
Some companies actually get some quick wins from their gamble but a lot of them don’t. And for those that are lucky, they are not able to repeat what they have done because they did not have to decide based on data and they did not plan to collect any data to compare with what they did.
I’d like to share some topics on the benefits of marketing data analytics and why African businesses especially startups should take it seriously.
What is marketing data analytics?
Marketing Data Analytics is the use of data to evaluate the performance of collective marketing efforts.
The startup ecosystem in Africa, using Nigeria as a case study is still very young compared to other parts of the world and you can easily win the heart of a substantial amount of users if your brand communications is catchy enough. So, most marketing teams would usually rely on little or no data to make marketing campaign decisions.
Why is Marketing Data Analytics important?
Who needs marketing data analysis in the first place, and why is it important? Most big brands would pay a substantial amount of money to research firms before they launch into new markets or roll out marketing campaigns because they understand the impact of data analytics in making their marketing decisions.
However, most startups do not have the funds to hire a big-time consultancy firm that would do all of that research for them so they would usually leverage on the little they have done in their product development stage, gut instinct and trends.
There is a saying that if you do not know where you are coming from, you will not be able to confidently say where you are going. Hence, most startups are able to gain a substantial market share not through data-driven marketing campaigns but mainly through value offered and less competition, they are unable to keep the momentum hence most of them drop out of the race to become a unicorn.
Marketing data analytics is beneficial in that it helps businesses to understand the big-picture marketing trends and forecast the future. It helps to give a proper context to the value of ROI on all marketing campaigns and individual channels.
Marketing professionals who prioritize marketing data analytics using tools are 39 per cent more likely to see an overall improvement in their marketing campaigns.
