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8 min read

7 Steps to Turn Insights into Effective Marketing Strategies

Key takeaways

  • Data-driven insights can be relied upon to support the most successful marketing strategies, but certain steps must be followed.
  • To get the most out of customer data, businesses must outline clear objectives, analyse trends, and continue to monitor their campaigns after launch.
  • Insights should be harnessed to understand target audiences more deeply and deliver personalised marketing efforts.

To stay com­pet­i­tive, busi­ness­es must lever­age every insight avail­able to them. Those gained from cus­tomer and busi­ness data under­pin the most suc­cess­ful mar­ket­ing cam­paigns, mak­ing them high­ly valuable.

We are all tempt­ed to respond to excit­ing facts and fig­ures quick­ly, but your approach must be metic­u­lous. To effec­tive­ly improve con­ver­sion rate, return on invest­ment, and cus­tomer engage­ment, your mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy should be adapt­ed carefully.

Today, we’ll explore how you can use the insights gained from data col­lec­tion to enhance your mar­ket­ing efforts in sev­en steps. From the data col­lec­tion itself to mea­sur­ing results, each step will help sculpt your new cam­paign in a way that res­onates with your tar­get audience.

Let’s dive in.

1. Gathering data

Gath­er­ing data involves col­lect­ing rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion about your cus­tomers, mar­ket trends, com­peti­tors, and over­all indus­try dynam­ics. The qual­i­ty and scope of the data you gath­er will sig­nif­i­cant­ly influ­ence the accu­ra­cy of your insights and the suc­cess of your mar­ket­ing strategies.

To begin with, lever­age var­i­ous meth­ods to gath­er data. Sur­veys and ques­tion­naires are pow­er­ful tools to direct­ly cap­ture cus­tomer opin­ions, pref­er­ences, and pain points. Online sur­veys can be dis­trib­uted via email, social media, or your web­site, mak­ing it easy to reach a broad audi­ence. Addi­tion­al­ly, social media ana­lyt­ics pro­vide valu­able data on cus­tomer behav­iour, engage­ment pat­terns, and trend­ing top­ics. Plat­forms like Face­book Insights, Twit­ter Ana­lyt­ics, and Insta­gram Insights offer in-depth met­rics that help you under­stand how your audi­ence inter­acts with your content.

Cus­tomer feed­back, col­lect­ed through reviews, com­ments, and direct inter­ac­tions, is anoth­er crit­i­cal data source. This feed­back offers unfil­tered insights into cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion and areas for improve­ment. Fur­ther­more, web­site ana­lyt­ics tools such as Google Ana­lyt­ics can

track vis­i­tor behav­iour, page views, bounce rates, and con­ver­sion rates, pro­vid­ing a com­pre­hen­sive view of how users inter­act with your online presence.

Util­is­ing advanced tools and tech­nolo­gies can enhance your data col­lec­tion process. Cus­tomer Rela­tion­ship Man­age­ment (CRM) sys­tems, for instance, com­pile cus­tomer data from var­i­ous touch­points, offer­ing a cen­tralised data­base for analy­sis. Sim­i­lar­ly, data min­ing tools can uncov­er hid­den pat­terns and cor­re­la­tions in large datasets, pro­vid­ing deep­er insights into cus­tomer behav­iour and mar­ket trends.

The key to effec­tive data gath­er­ing is con­sis­ten­cy and accu­ra­cy. Reg­u­lar­ly updat­ing your data ensures it remains rel­e­vant and action­able. By invest­ing time and resources in gath­er­ing high-qual­i­ty (in-depth and accu­rate) data, you lay a sol­id foun­da­tion for the sub­se­quent steps in devel­op­ing and imple­ment­ing suc­cess­ful mar­ket­ing strategies.

2. Analysing trends

To bridge the gap between data col­lec­tion and tak­ing action, you’ll need to analyse trends. This process involves exam­in­ing the data you’ve gath­ered to iden­ti­fy pat­terns, shifts, and emerg­ing trends that can inform your mar­ket­ing strate­gies. Under­stand­ing trends will help you antic­i­pate mar­ket changes, align your strate­gies with con­sumer behav­iour, and stay ahead of competitors.

Start by sort­ing through your data to high­light sig­nif­i­cant pat­terns and changes over time. Look for recur­ring themes in cus­tomer feed­back, sea­son­al vari­a­tions in sales, or shifts in demo­graph­ic behav­iour. Tools like Excel, Google Sheets, and more advanced ana­lyt­ics soft­ware such as Tableau or Pow­er BI can help visu­alise these trends, mak­ing them eas­i­er to interpret.

SWOT analy­sis (Strengths, Weak­ness­es, Oppor­tu­ni­ties, Threats) is an effec­tive method for organ­is­ing and under­stand­ing trends. By cat­e­goris­ing data into these four areas, you can clear­ly see where your busi­ness stands in the mar­ket and iden­ti­fy poten­tial areas for growth and improve­ment. Addi­tion­al­ly, com­peti­tor analy­sis is vital. Exam­ine your com­peti­tors’ strate­gies, their mar­ket posi­tion­ing, and cus­tomer respons­es. This can pro­vide insights into suc­cess­ful tac­tics and gaps you can exploit.

Mar­ket research reports and indus­try pub­li­ca­tions are also valu­able resources. They offer expert analy­ses and fore­casts that can val­i­date your find­ings and pro­vide a broad­er con­text. Sub­scrib­ing to rel­e­vant indus­try newslet­ters or attend­ing webi­na­rs can keep you updat­ed on the lat­est mar­ket developments.

Once you’ve iden­ti­fied key trends, con­sid­er their impli­ca­tions for your busi­ness. For exam­ple, if data shows a grow­ing pref­er­ence for online shop­ping among your tar­get demo­graph­ic, you might pri­ori­tise enhanc­ing your e‑commerce plat­form. If there’s a ris­ing trend in sus­tain­abil­i­ty, align­ing your brand with eco-friend­ly prac­tices could res­onate with your audience.

3. Setting clear objectives

Since objec­tives serve as your roadmap, they must be clear. Well-defined goals will pro­vide you with direc­tion and mea­sur­able bench­marks for success.

Start by adopt­ing the SMART cri­te­ria to frame your objec­tives (Spe­cif­ic, Mea­sur­able, Achiev­able, Rel­e­vant, and Time-bound). Spe­cif­ic objec­tives pin­point exact­ly what you aim to achieve, elim­i­nat­ing ambi­gu­i­ty. For instance, rather than set­ting a vague goal like “increase web­site traf­fic,” spec­i­fy “increase web­site traf­fic by 20% in the next six months.”

Mea­sur­able objec­tives allow you to track progress and deter­mine suc­cess. This involves set­ting quan­ti­ta­tive tar­gets, such as “gain 1,000 new social media fol­low­ers in three months” or “boost email open rates to 25% with­in the next quar­ter.” Mea­sur­able goals pro­vide con­crete cri­te­ria to assess your performance.

Achiev­able objec­tives are real­is­tic and attain­able with­in your avail­able resources and con­straints. Set­ting over­ly ambi­tious goals can lead to frus­tra­tion and demo­ti­va­tion. Instead, con­sid­er your cur­rent capa­bil­i­ties and mar­ket con­di­tions to set tar­gets that chal­lenge but do not over­whelm your team.

Rel­e­vance ensures that your objec­tives align with broad­er busi­ness goals and mar­ket real­i­ties. Each objec­tive should con­tribute direct­ly to your com­pa­ny’s mis­sion and vision. For exam­ple, if your busi­ness aims to expand its mar­ket share, objec­tives like “launch a new prod­uct line tar­get­ing young pro­fes­sion­als” would be rel­e­vant and sup­port­ive of this goal.

Final­ly, Time-bound objec­tives estab­lish clear dead­lines, cre­at­ing a sense of urgency and help­ing pri­ori­tise tasks. A defined time­line, such as “achieve a 15% increase in sales with­in the next finan­cial year,” ensures that objec­tives are pur­sued dili­gent­ly and reviewed periodically.

4. Identifying target audiences

Know­ing your tar­get audi­ence is foun­da­tion­al to any suc­cess­ful busi­ness. Not only must you know who you’re tar­get­ing but it is also cru­cial that you know them as much as pos­si­ble. For your new or updat­ed mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy to be effec­tive, you must engage in a few tasks that help you learn about your tar­get customers:

Start by seg­ment­ing your audi­ence based on var­i­ous cri­te­ria. Demo­graph­ic fac­tors such as age, gen­der, income lev­el, edu­ca­tion, and occu­pa­tion pro­vide a basic under­stand­ing of who your cus­tomers are. Psy­cho­graph­ic fac­tors delve deep­er, exam­in­ing lifestyles, val­ues, inter­ests, and atti­tudes. Behav­iour­al fac­tors con­sid­er pur­chas­ing habits, brand loy­al­ty, and prod­uct usage.

One effec­tive method to iden­ti­fy and seg­ment your audi­ence is through the cre­ation of detailed buy­er per­sonas. Buy­er per­sonas are semi-fic­tion­al rep­re­sen­ta­tions of your ide­al cus­tomers, based on real data and insights. They include detailed pro­files that cov­er demo­graph­ics, behav­iours, moti­va­tions, and goals. For exam­ple, a per­sona might be “Tech-Savvy Tom,” a 30-year-old soft­ware engi­neer who val­ues inno­va­tion and fre­quent­ly pur­chas­es the lat­est gad­gets. Check out our guide to learn all about Buy­er Personas.

Gath­er­ing data for these per­sonas involves a mix of quan­ti­ta­tive and qual­i­ta­tive research. Sur­veys and ques­tion­naires can pro­vide broad insights into your cus­tomer base, while inter­views and focus groups offer deep­er, more nuanced under­stand­ing. Addi­tion­al­ly, analysing data from your CRM sys­tem, social media plat­forms, and web­site ana­lyt­ics can reveal pat­terns and pref­er­ences among your audience.

It’s also essen­tial to con­sid­er the con­text in which your tar­get audi­ence inter­acts with your brand. Under­stand their cus­tomer jour­ney, iden­ti­fy­ing touch­points where they engage with your mar­ket­ing mate­ri­als. This helps in craft­ing mes­sages that res­onate at each stage of their jour­ney, from aware­ness to con­sid­er­a­tion to decision-making.

Tai­lored cam­paigns that speak direct­ly to the needs and desires of your audi­ence are more like­ly to cap­ture their atten­tion and fos­ter loy­al­ty – this phase of the process is essential.

5. Developing tailored campaigns

When plan­ning out your next mar­ket­ing cam­paign, remem­ber the impor­tance of per­son­al­i­sa­tion. This is the key to reach­ing and engag­ing your tar­get audi­ence effec­tive­ly. Per­son­alised mar­ket­ing allows you to craft mes­sages that res­onate with leads more deeply, increas­ing the like­li­hood of con­ver­sions and long-term loyalty.

Start your per­son­al­i­sa­tion efforts by lever­ag­ing the insights gath­ered from your audi­ence research. Use the pro­files and per­sonas you’ve cre­at­ed to inform your under­stand­ing. Each cam­paign should be designed to address the spe­cif­ic needs, pref­er­ences, and behav­iours of your tar­get seg­ments. For instance, if you’re tar­get­ing “Tech-Savvy Tom,” focus on high­light­ing inno­v­a­tive fea­tures and cut­ting-edge tech­nol­o­gy in your messaging.

Con­tent is a major aspect of mar­ket­ing cam­paigns that can be per­son­alised – whether it’s your emails, web­site con­tent, or ads. Cus­tomise it to reflect the inter­ests and pain points of dif­fer­ent audi­ence seg­ments, using your research to inform your choices.

Utilise sev­er­al chan­nels to reach your audi­ence where they are most active – a mul­ti-chan­nel approach ensures broad­er reach and rein­forces your mes­sage. For exam­ple, com­bin­ing social media cam­paigns with email mar­ket­ing and tar­get­ed ads can cre­ate a cohe­sive and com­pelling nar­ra­tive. Don’t for­get to keep your brand voice and mes­sage con­sis­tent across dif­fer­ent chan­nels to build trust and recognition.

You might like to try out dif­fer­ent mul­ti­me­dia ele­ments such as videos, info­graph­ics, and inter­ac­tive con­tent. A/B test dif­fer­ent ver­sions of your cam­paigns to help deter­mine what res­onates best with your audience.

6. Implementing strategies

When the time comes to turn your plan into action, you’ll want all your com­po­nents to work togeth­er seam­less­ly. First, break down your strat­e­gy into spe­cif­ic tasks and assign respon­si­bil­i­ties to team mem­bers. A clear plan helps in man­ag­ing resources, set­ting time­lines, and ensur­ing every­one under­stands their role.

Tools like Gantt charts or project man­age­ment soft­ware such as Asana and Trel­lo can aid in track­ing progress and main­tain­ing organisation.

Effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion is vital dur­ing this phase. Reg­u­lar team meet­ings and updates keep every­one aligned and address any issues prompt­ly. Ensure that all stake­hold­ers are informed about the strat­e­gy and their respec­tive roles. This fos­ters col­lab­o­ra­tion and account­abil­i­ty, dri­ving the strat­e­gy forward.

It’s like­ly that there are numer­ous tools that can help stream­line your efforts. Mar­ket­ing automa­tion tools can han­dle repet­i­tive tasks such as email cam­paigns, social media post­ing, and lead nur­tur­ing, free­ing up your team to focus on more strate­gic activities.

Mon­i­tor­ing and adjust­ing your strat­e­gy in real time is cru­cial for stay­ing on track. Use ana­lyt­ics tools to track key per­for­mance indi­ca­tors (KPIs) and mea­sure the effec­tive­ness of your cam­paigns. If cer­tain aspects of your strat­e­gy are not per­form­ing as expect­ed, be pre­pared to make data-dri­ven adjust­ments. Flex­i­bil­i­ty and respon­sive­ness can sig­nif­i­cant­ly enhance the suc­cess of your implementation.

Learn more about e‑commerce KPIs by read­ing our guide.

Final­ly, it’s a good idea to doc­u­ment the imple­men­ta­tion process and its out­comes. Detailed records help in under­stand­ing what worked and what did­n’t, pro­vid­ing valu­able insights for future strate­gies. This con­tin­u­ous learn­ing approach ensures that your mar­ket­ing efforts evolve and improve over time.

7. Measuring results for continuous improvement

Mea­sur­ing the results of your mar­ket­ing strate­gies is cru­cial for under­stand­ing their effec­tive­ness and iden­ti­fy­ing areas for improve­ment. This final but ongo­ing step involves eval­u­at­ing per­for­mance against your objec­tives, using the insights gained to refine and enhance future mar­ket­ing efforts.

Start by iden­ti­fy­ing the key per­for­mance indi­ca­tors (KPIs) that align with your mar­ket­ing objec­tives. Com­mon KPIs include con­ver­sion rates, click-through rates, engage­ment met­rics, return on invest­ment (ROI), and cus­tomer acqui­si­tion costs. These met­rics pro­vide quan­tifi­able data on how well your strate­gies are per­form­ing and whether they are meet­ing your goals.

Utilise ana­lyt­ics tools to col­lect and analyse data. Plat­forms like Google Ana­lyt­ics, Hub­Spot, and social media ana­lyt­ics tools offer com­pre­hen­sive insights into var­i­ous aspects of your mar­ket­ing cam­paigns. These tools can track user behav­iour, mea­sure cam­paign per­for­mance, and pro­vide detailed reports on key met­rics. Reg­u­lar­ly review these reports to stay informed about your strat­e­gy’s progress.

A/B test­ing is a pop­u­lar method for mea­sur­ing and improv­ing your mar­ket­ing efforts. By test­ing dif­fer­ent ver­sions of your con­tent, emails, ads, or land­ing pages, you can determine

which ele­ments res­onate best with your audi­ence. Imple­ment­ing the more effec­tive vari­a­tions helps opti­mise your cam­paigns for bet­ter results. Learn more about A/B test­ing from our guide.

Bench­mark­ing against indus­try stan­dards and com­peti­tors is anoth­er valu­able prac­tice. Com­par­ing your per­for­mance to sim­i­lar busi­ness­es helps iden­ti­fy strengths and weak­ness­es, offer­ing insights into areas for improve­ment and growth opportunities.

Final­ly, ensure that the process of mea­sur­ing and analysing results is ongo­ing. Mar­ket­ing is dynam­ic, and what works today might not work tomor­row. Reg­u­lar­ly revis­it­ing and refin­ing your strate­gies based on per­for­mance data keeps your mar­ket­ing efforts rel­e­vant and effec­tive and ensures that your efforts evolve with chang­ing mar­ket con­di­tions and cus­tomer preferences.

Final thoughts

Embrac­ing a mind­set of con­tin­u­ous learn­ing and inno­va­tion is essen­tial for turn­ing insights into effec­tive mar­ket­ing strate­gies. Reg­u­lar­ly seek­ing con­fir­ma­tion from your ana­lyt­ics tools is the best way to keep your cus­tomers at the cen­tre of your efforts, evolv­ing to their pref­er­ences and change­able trends.

While data can seem a bit ‘cold,’ it can help you build warm, strong, and empath­ic con­nec­tions with cus­tomers. Data-dri­ven insights are ground­ed in real­i­ty, so they’re sure to offer the best pos­si­ble foun­da­tion for your strate­gies. If you are metic­u­lous, your new mar­ket­ing cam­paigns will be a big success.

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