Data analysis is no longer only a success indicator of your own output. It has become a crucial tool for listening to your audiences.

Data – Can’t live (with or) without it?

Data. We have lots of it. Technology and tools – in the pocket. Organizational mindset – agile and data driven – yes we are! But despite the available data and growing investment in technologies like AI, the adoption seems to drag behind.

Problems range from a lack of strategy to a lack of analytics talent in organizations. Siloed organizational structures and databases that don’t talk to each other. From poor data quality to inconsistent indexing and storage of data. From human behavior and resistance to change to bad user experience.

Data and analytics were also again a key theme in the annual summit of AMEC, the international association of measurement and evaluation of communication. The presentations and interaction between delegates clearly highlighted the problems, but also the opportunities and optimism that the current crisis might finally force businesses to prioritize solving the remaining digitalization and data related issues. This would be a major step ahead in getting better data to evaluate the impact of communications – maybe even the golden moment of PR measurement and evaluation practice?

Crisis accelerating change

Possibilities and demands for quantifying, measuring and evaluating communication efforts have been growing steadily over the past decade. With the digital transformation of our businesses, communications and purchasing, the organizational silos between marketing, sales and communications are tumbling down. Maybe slowly, but surely. The covid-19 crisis sent most of the business communicators and purchasers from trade shows, conferences, airport lounges and dinner tables to the digital atmosphere. And we might never come back to the old. The current crisis is pushing our creativity and speed of innovation like we’ve never seen before.

Analytics, listening and relevancy

The rise of content-driven marketing and social media brought data analytics to the table for good, and this development will only intensify, when we have more data – and maybe all we have is data. In marketing communications this means that numbers and quality of hits, visitors and engagement, whether it was your LinkedIn campaign or virtual event – are more important than ever before. As the demands of agility and understanding our operating environment grow, so does the role of communicators in translating it back to the organization.

Data and data analysis will not be just a success indicator of your own output anymore, but more and more a crucial tool for listening to your audiences. From the 16 rising B2B marketing trends listed in a recent overview of Forbes Communication Council, pretty much all were digital, including the accelerated adoption of virtual events, live streaming and podcasts. But even more importantly, the listing emphasized the importance of listening and data analysis: starting from mastering the soft sell and hyper relevancy (keeping an ear to the ground and knowing exactly what audiences are thinking and what they care about and crafting the message for that moment) to  heavily personalized communications, hyper-targeting by click segmentation, search/intent analytics and broader predictive analytics – and not forgetting the increasing focus on data privacy.

Data becomes organizational priority

While we go digital, and towards the unknown “new normal”, trying to navigate the changes in our operating environment and stakeholder expectations, solving data related issues becomes more important: Do we have the right data? Do we have the right tools? Is the data being used?  How is the UX? Do we have enough GDPR expertise in-house? Are we stuck with trying to be perfect? Solving these questions will also help the communicators to quantify what they bring on the table, because with irrelevant or insufficient data, tools that don’t fit the purpose, stumbling user experience or reports that no one looks at, we will not succeed.

But if tackling data becomes an organizational priority, we might just be heading towards a breakthrough.

Inka Finne, EMG

www.emg-marcom.com

Twitter: @ifinne @EMGmarcom

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/inkafinne/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/emg-marcom/

Published also on https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-cant-live-without-inka-finne/