Four Reasons Why You Need A Data Driven Content Marketing Strategy
Why is it crucial that every company creates a content strategy based on cold hard data? The simple answer is quality. A data-driven content marketing strategy increases overall quality, success, and efficiency of your content. Below are four reasons why data is so important in the ever-changing world of content strategy.
1. Remove The Bias
There is no denying the human bias we all experience in our day to day lives. The same can be said for our marketing strategies and campaigns. Each marketer is different and comes with their own predisposed opinions of marketing activities. I for example have always disliked the use Twitter in a corporate environment. So as an employee who controls the selection and deployment of content, do you I think I would favour Twitter? Even if it's perhaps a better choice than LinkedIn.
I know that statement doesn't sound great... But, it's realistic. If you think there is no bias in your current strategy, look again.
Using a tool or software to initiate the decision making process of your content strategy immediately removes this first level of bias. It puts the team in a position where the data can rank the top 3-5 marketing activities for you. Then the team can make the conscious decision to play to there strengths.
This is an example where the data from Tactycs does the heavy lifting and avoids a 'bias' occurring. Perhaps this is step one of a companies strategy generation. The second step can be the acknowledgment that their team is particularly good at creating videos. So a 'strength' that fit with the data can be identified and the company can focus their resources on YouTube posts and advertisements instead of a podcast sponsorship.
2. Time & Money
In a world of A/B testing, save time and money with a data driven strategy. Typically, an employee can hone in on a possible 3-5 marketing activities to find your audience, then test for the best. But how long does that take? And, how much does that time translate too in dollars. Don't just think about the cost of the employee but also the missed revenue during the testing period. Data-driven strategies remove the delay and provide reasoning towards marketing decisions.
There are options to avoid the amount of time it takes to test different marketing activities. But, most options eat up just as much time in on-boarding or cost significantly more than the potential loss of revenue. For example, hiring a content strategist can be extremely timely and expensive. Finding a source of data that gives you the recommendations you need immediately for a reasonable price is exactly the pain point Waterloo startup Tactycs aims to fix.
3. Targeting Capabilities
When considering your target market there are usually 4 or 5 key pieces of data that identify your ideal consumer. Things like age, gender, traits, etc. When you create a data driven content marketing strategy you have the ability to focus in on specific pieces. Running a campaign that will resonate with a segment of yours that is tech-savvy? Then let the data find you the best marketing activities that understand your overall target market, resources AND the desired specification.
"No great marketing decision has ever been made on qualitative data"
-John Sculley
Utilize the accuracy data can provide, understand why each marketing activity is chosen, and you will stand out amongst your competition.
4. Set Your Team Up For Success
Arguably the most important reason that you should use a data driven content marketing strategy is to set your team up for success.
It may be related to both time and money but allowing the data to dictate the overall strategy means your team gets initial direction and the time they need to brainstorm and create compelling content. You're already paying for the best employees out there, put them in a position to create and let software take care of the monotonous work.
