Baking Analytics into Marketing

Baking Analytics into Marketing:

Business intelligence initiatives are complex, cross-functional processes that are only as strong as the weakest link in an organization. What might that weakest link be? Well, if numbers tell us anything, the weakest link may well be marketing intelligence. A recent IBM study reveals that over 70% of CMOs feel unprepared to deal with the explosion of big data. And our own research finds that – of all internal functions – people in Marketing have the least confidence in their own data (perhaps a problem with perception as much as with the data itself). This is also the view put forward by Gert Laursen, head of Customer Intelligence at Maersk Line in his book, Business Analytics for Managers: Taking Business Intelligence Beyond Reporting .

Mr. Laursen’s latest book, Business Analytics for Sales and Marketing Managers, tackles marketing analytics head on. He explains a pragmatic “top-down” approach for determining what data to use, which algorithm to select, and how to implement the results.

Intrigued by his insights, we took some time last week (a windy Friday afternoon in Denmark) to chat with Mr. Laursen about the role of data and analytics in marketing. Here are a few interesting nuggets from the conversation:

• “Include the data guys.” We’re all aware of the cultural schism where the “boring analysts” are never invited to creative meetings. But let’s face it, if nobody in strategy knows how to use information, then how can anyone make a strategy that can be informed by data and measured? Someone in the strategy creation phase needs data and analytics knowledge, or else you might end up setting unreasonable and/or unmeasurable goals for yourselves.
• “Target the young ones!” There’s virtually no career for an analyst in a marketing department because s/he could just make a better career elsewhere. That means that the key to analytics talent lies not in hiring, but in training. The best way: nurture relatively young/junior marketers by having them stick with data guys for a half their time over a year or two. If the majority of junior marketers learn data and analytics skills early on, eventually the culture and approach of the whole department will become more scientific.
• “Market your data capabilities and customer knowledge.” Maersk Line is a market leader with some of the best data in the shipping industry. However fragmented that data may be, it would be smart to use that knowledge power as a strategic axis. After all, who wouldn’t follow the company that is updated about its customers and can improve their products and services accordingly?

To enable stronger business intelligence, you have to strengthen your weak data link. Otherwise, as Mr. Laursen puts it, “you will become an infosaurus that is eventually outsmarted.”