4 Major Problems With Your Business’s Marketing Data

You don’t have to dive too far into the business press to know that marketing data is essential to modern companies. And, as an entrepreneur, startup owner or company director, you are likely to be interested in putting it to good use. But there are a few problems with collecting data and using it in an efficient way. Today, we’re going to look at what they are and how you can look out for potential stumbling blocks. Here are four major problems with your marketing data.

Where do you store it?

When you start collecting data, the idea is to get as much of it as you can. It then becomes ‘big data’ – which we’re sure you have heard about in the past. So, the first problem is – where are you going to store it? It’s not just the size of the data that is the problem, either. It’s the type of information it holds – and things can get complex very quickly. Will you have to buy hardware or can you store it in the cloud? How much is this investment going to set you back? Will you be able to access and use it whenever you want?

What are you going to do with it?

You might be collecting a lot of data right now – but be honest; what are you going to do with it? Gathering information is the easy part, but understanding how you can use it to improve your business is another altogether. If you are struggling to get to grips with your data, it might be beneficial to hire an expertise in a given area. For example, a conversion optimisation agency will be able to help you sift through your analytics info. It could lead to them suggesting improvements for your website performance. Similarly, a social media expert could help you find out everything people are saying about your company.

Are you reading your data properly?

Data is just numbers and information when all’s said and done. It’s hard to decipher, and it needs a lot of work to process, analyse and draw conclusions that will have a positive impact. It’s also easy to misread. You can use data and information to back up any claim, for example, as long as you are good at massaging figures. Of course, nobody sets out to mislead themselves, but it’s far too easy to get those numbers to fit your theories.  

Are you collecting too much data?

The more data you collect, the harder it’s going to be to focus on the information you need. Data collection is complicated, and if you are taking on too much, it can be like finding a needle in a haystack. For example, if you get two people to fill out a poll, you have two sets of data that will be easy to compile and draw from. But what if you ask 1,000 customers to complete a survey or questionnaire? Things can quickly become uncontrollable, and there might be a lot of nuance in the answers that you miss.

Data is vital for your marketing and will help you uncover improvements to your business. But it can be hard to sift through, and you run the risk of overloading your marketing team. It’s vital to bear this in mind when exploring new data collection techniques in the future.

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