Using Analytics for Decision-Making is a Top Priority for Marketers

Marketers continue to turn to data and analytics to achieve top objectives, but research shows that they would still like to improve their use of this information.

According to the “Marketing Data and Technology Strategy Survey” from Ascend2, half (51 percent) of marketers claim that their top priority for their marketing data and technology strategy is to use analytics for decision-making. However, 45 percent would like to improve data quality and accuracy. Forty-one percent would like to integrate data across more technologies, and 40 percent want to generate more reliable and relevant data.

That being said, the majority of marketers are still seeing success in terms of utilizing marketing data and technology.

“A total of 81 percent of marketing influencers consider their marketing data and technology strategy successful to some extent, with 29 percent describing their strategy as very successful or best-in-class,” wrote the authors of the report.

As far as challenges with leveraging marketing data, the top responses were integrating data across more technologies (44 percent) and generating reliable and relevant data (41 percent).

B2B Marketers and Data and Analytics

B2B marketers, in particular, have struggled to advance their data and analytics strategies, according to recent research.

Radius and the Harvard Business Review recently conducted the “Why Your Data Strategy is Your B2B Growth Strategy” report. Thirty-four percent of B2B marketers stated that their company’s data strategy was just “average.” Approximately 31 percent claimed that it was “somewhat advanced,” while 21 percent said it was “below average.”

“It’s clear that companies want to do better,” wrote the authors of the report. “Sixty-three percent of survey respondents argue that data and analytics will be very influential on their B2B go-to-market activities within the next two years – with 55 percent ranking that either a high or essential priority.”