What will a data strategy really do for my business?

Five Top Answers to Give the C-suite. A successful data strategy is vital to improving your marketing strategy, but sometimes it is difficult to convince the c-suite that a data strategy is worth the time and investment. This blog post helps you to answer the question that, when it comes to a data strategy, all directors want an answer to.

The question all directors want a (good) answer to:

It is a simple question to which directors and others will want to know the answer: What will a data strategy do for my business? 

OK perhaps it is not that simple a question. 

This question came up during a discussion I had recently with DataHQ, one of our FastStats partners and resellers, and I thought it would be useful to share the answers.

At Apteco we’re in the data business and so work with many organisations that put data at the heart of their marketing activities. However, I am aware that there are many marketers out there who are still struggling to convince their organisations that they need to focus more on data and data strategy.

So when struggling to convince your organisation and faced with the question ‘What will a data strategy do for my business?’  here are five top answers you can give and win over the C-Suite.

Five top answers to give the C-Suite:

Here are five top answers that you can use to convince stakeholders that developing a data strategy is worth the time and investment:

1. A clear data strategy ensures that the entire business has a set of data management guidelines to follow. This can then be a means to communicate the benefits of good data management to the bottom line.

2. It reinforces that data is not, and should not be, the sole responsibility of the data or marketing department – it needs to matter to and be nourished by everyone.

3. Business-wide focus ensures there is a standardised way of collecting and collating data to improve overall data quality. The time saved on data cleaning and maintenance can be significant.

4. A clear data strategy avoids possible legal issues or fines, that could damage your brand and further expose your business to competitors. Data quality and the proper treatment of data, means that a business is going to be well-placed to maintain a proper data protection policy. Practicing proper data protection procedures is increasingly vital and very much on the radar of consumers.

5. Managing data correctly can lead to significant cost savings that have a positive effect on the bottom line. Many of our “Best use of FastStats Award” submissions use cost and process savings to illustrate how their data strategy has increased campaign profits. You may currently spend £5000 to generate £7000 but with a data strategy you may be able to spend (say) just £3000 to generate that £7000.

Other benefits of a data strategy:

Our discussion led onto a wide range of topics and resulted in a white paper called “Why you cannot have an effective marketing strategy without a data strategy”.

This paper illustrates how each step; from collating data sources, to creating a SCV, managing/gaining insights into the data and reporting; are all crucial in order to realise the power of data in your business. This free eguide also demonstrates how data enables marketers to make decisions based on evidence and report on findings that can be easily translated into tangible results.

The ability to demonstrate tangible results for marketing strategies  is a powerful mechanism when sharing the marketing plans, strategy and projects with the C-suite and wider stakeholders.

Takeaway

• Data needs to be at the heart of your marketing strategy.
• In order to convince the c-suite to invest in a data strategy you need to focus on business-wide benefits.
• The implementation of a data strategy enables you to attach tangible results to marketing strategies.

Key to any successful marketing strategy is data, find out why by downloading "Why You Cannot Have an Effective Marketing Strategy, Without a Data Strategy" now.