Big data as we know it today became a “thing” for marketing professionals arguably about 10 years ago, and with an average of 100,000 monthly Google searches, marketers are still craving information and big data solutions.  It has revolutionized the way we approach marketing and sales, influencing pricing strategies, new product innovations, and campaign optimization.  However, beyond “big data”, the focus must be on the “right data” and making sense of it to improve the customer journey.  

Today’s challenge has shifted to data silos – and in an ideal world, converging efforts to break down these divisions.  The result? Marketers are now able to consolidate and determine the right data to better your relationship with consumers.  

The dangers of data silos are real.  You risk not really knowing your customer on a one-to-one level due to fragmented or hidden data.  Additionally, your time will be better spent making efficient, real-time analytical decisions when you have a better understanding of the entire customer journey.    

Data silos can exist internally within a company’s departments (including multiple marketing teams) and externally (agencies and vendors).  Let’s take the retail industry for example.

Within a retail company the following may exist internally and externally:

– CRM or customer management teams

– Loyalty cards or credit card transactions

– Online purchase information

– Point of sale data

– Email subscriptions and alerts for marketing campaigns, card notifications and information and promotions

– Internal and external models for customer acquisition

– Branding, messaging and perception data

– Media data

– Insights from the brand’s Digital Agency of Record

– Offline and Online DMPs

– DSP and ESP data

– Buying platforms and social networks

This is a simplified example of the types of silos some marketers can face.  But there is a solution.  The new possible is marrying CRM and media – more specifically, converging the worlds of advertising and marketing technology for a people-based era.

Dave Helmreich, COO, LiveIntent expounds on this thought in “Breaking down data silos” on Oracle Data Cloud’s blog.

“In an era of people-based marketing, we’re closer to giving brands what they want: Marketing to known users in channels previously reserved for advertising, and bringing the technical genius (predictive analytics, audience targeting, AI, machine learning) of advertising to channels typically devoted to marketing. What’s the key to bridging that chasm? Identity.”

Read more of the thought leadership piece here.