Big Data

If you're a marketer and you don’t live under a rock, you’re inundated with talk about “big data.” You’ve heard things like: If you don’t have a serious big data project you’re missing the boat.

The recent article in Forbes by Kimberly Whitler entitled The CEO/CMO Dilemma: So Much Data, So Little Impact is right on target. The Sloan paper it mentions goes on to say, “Organizations traditionally are tempted to start by gathering all available data before beginning their analysis. 

More companies than ever are identifying themselves as “data-driven,” but challenges in managing, interpreting and implementing the data continue to mount. A recent study by the Columbia Business School and NYAMA reported that “39% of marketing executives confess that they have lots of customer data but don’t know what to do with it.” Data projects are expensive and time-consuming and, often time, leave marketers without answers to foundational marketing questions, including “How can I use this data to deliver better results and improved ROI?”

The explosion in digital and emerging media channels has brought a huge volume of rich, but complex data sources. With big data comes the promise of better decision-making information and measurement of marketing ROI. A recent study found that 91% of senior corporate marketers believe that successful brands use customer data to drive marketing decisions. (2012 BRITE-NYAMA Marketing in Transition Study)