There is tremendous excitement around data-driven marketing. A whole catalog of data-related phrases are echoing throughout the marketing world: big data, data mining, data science, data exchanges, data management platforms, controlled experiments (“big testing“), analytics, metrics, dashboards, etc. But the data driving all these different activities isn’t quite the same. Or, more accurately, the contexts in which marketers use that data aren’t the same. Different data-driven activities change how you should think about data, manage it, …

Marketing data: exploration vs. confirmation Continue Reading »

In observing the language that CIOs and CMOs alike keep using around the big data bubble — where both parties seem ready to acknowledge that marketing is in the hot seat for making productive use of data — I’m starting to conclude one of two things: “Data” is a euphemism for all application-level marketing technology. There’s an illusion that data-driven marketing can thrive independent of any deeper engagement with the technology that generates or harnesses …

Data is marketing’s gateway drug to software fluency Continue Reading »

Let’s face it: marketing is in a big data bubble. That’s both a “big data” bubble and, more generally, a big “data” bubble. Everyone is talking about data, big data, data analytics, big data analytics. Vendors, analysts, consultants, pundits, bloggers, etc., are all falling all over themselves to squeeze these terms into their propaganda content marketing. As just one example, three out of the Top 10 predictions for CMOs by IDC revolve around data. How …

The big data bubble in marketing — but a bigger future Continue Reading »