by Stephen Jeske
The ways and means in which consumers interact with business are becoming increasingly sophisticated. With the rapid rise in the number of digital devices and touch points, marketers are facing greater challenges in understanding the needs and wants of their customers. Although there has been a corresponding increase in the number of tools to help marketers make sense of this vast amount of information, many suffer from a common flaw.
Marketing technologies are typically developed to address a particular situation such as website analytics or A/B testing, without regard to how these tools integrate into the overall decision-making process. As a result, many marketers still struggle to gain an overall picture of the value of their marketing strategies and tactics.
One size does not fit all in this new environment. The increasing use of mobile devices by consumers to make informed purchasing decisions places an additional burden on marketers. Consumers are making decisions faster than ever, and marketers must not only react to events, they must predict actions in advance. They need to deliver the right content at the right time, often at a moment's notice.
This level of operational excellence requires an integrated marketing platform that can rapidly measure and analyze vast amounts of data. It requires a standard set of data about customers, including transactional, behavioral and motivation data. Tracking key metrics is not enough anymore. This data needs to be analyzed to understand consumer behavior, gain insight and create tactics that improve engagement.
Google recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to study how marketers are responding to this new real-time integrated marketing paradigm. Forrester surveyed 150150 marketing, analytics, and information technology decision-makers at North American companies to determine best practices. Here’s what they found:
