Marketing programs have relied on data for a long time. When was the first time you heard the phrase “data driven marketing?” A long time ago I’ll bet. Business success is built on data.
Data collection, use, management, and protection are all changing rapidly. And those changes will cause impacts that ripple throughout your business, but especially on your marketing success.
Here are just a few of the ways data will change marketing this year.
Greater Need to Build Trust
Consumers have been rather carefree about allowing you to collect and use data to provide them with a better experience and valuable information. But, as news of data breaches becomes more prevalent, people are beginning to think more about what they share.
The need to increase trust should be a priority in 2023. Giving people the ability to opt-out is not sufficient for building trust. Transparency in what you collect, how you use that data, and with whom you share it are the key to creating that trust.
Review your privacy policy to ensure you are being transparent, or create one if you don’t already have one. Don’t copy one from another company. It may not apply to you. Once you have a custom privacy policy, make sure your collection, use, and management of data are aligned with it.
Increased Data Access and Management Responsibilities
Not only do several states in the US already have data privacy laws in place or slated to be enacted soon, the federal government is in the process of creating federal privacy standards with the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA). And your location is not all that matters when it comes to the application of these laws. You may face penalties under the data privacy laws of other countries around the world.
Fines are already being assessed internationally. Significant fines. Sephora (France) was assessed a $1.2 million dollar fine for violations under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2022. And in the early days of this year, Meta (California), was hit with a $414 million dollar fine for violations of the GDPR.
Exercise care in how you collect data and with whom you share it. Don’t overlook the fact that your Marketing Automation Platform (MAP) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) apps may use your data. It’s usually part of their End User Licensing Agreement (EULA).
A World Without Cookies
Marketers love cookies, but they are going away. Well, not all of them. Just the third-party ones. Google delayed the total abandonment of third-party cookies, but it’s likely only until late 2023 or early 2024. Get ready for that now.
If you are not using a MAP and CRM yet, now is a good time to start. These tools can help you collect, enrich, and manage data without increasing the workload demands on you or your team. And the AI in these tools does a better job of analyzing the data than most people can.
Static Data Lists Are Officially Useless
Whatever you do, stop buying static lists. They have never worked. If you need to buy data, work with a reputable data marketing company that can leverage its first party data to collect targeted information for you. That is more expensive than buying a list, but it will provide a return on your investment. The static list won’t. Hopefully you have already been focusing on obtaining and enriching first-party data and a MAP is part of your overall marketing strategy. If not, 2023 is the year to get serious about it.
Targeted Marketing Metrics and KPIs Are No Longer Optional
In the past, smaller companies may have been able to adjust their marketing based on intuition. The stakes are higher now, as more consumers grow tired of seeing irrelevant ads and content. Your marketing metrics need to be useful in updating your strategy, content, and delivery methods. Misaligned metrics will result in much higher costs, and this is not a time when any company can afford higher costs.
These are just a few of the ways data will change marketing in 2023. If you want to continue to scale your business, you’re going to need a better strategy and plan for using data in your marketing operations.
It may be a good time to schedule a limited consultation to discuss the best practices in creating a data-driven marketing strategy with the marketing experts at Foresight Performance. Or, if you’re only interested in general information, join our Insiders Email list. We respect your privacy – and yes, we do have a privacy policy.
