Good marketing is based on well done, solid research. Business intelligence is a term for a wide range of research and intelligence gathering techniques that gather data related to businesses. This can be anything from a software program that gathers data about what customers buy from a particular store, to what types of items customers are interested in, to surveys and research about a particular product. Business intelligence takes this raw data and turns it into insightful information that companies can utilize for formulating a business strategy in their market. This type of research and information is invaluable in making good marketing decisions.
Business Intelligence Studies Customers
Business intelligence studies customers and what they want. For example, when a retail store offers discounts to its customers using a club card, what they buy and how much they spend is tracked using the card data. Business intelligence experts then analyze this data and figure out which consumers by what and how often. By using this information, marketing experts can decide who their most valuable customers are, and how to market to or reach them. Knowing your customer base, and what they buy, is important when it comes to knowing how to market to them. For example, a retail store might decide to introduce a new product similar to one that their customers already buy by offering a sale on that item. Knowing their customer base can further help them make marketing decisions because they already have analyzed the data to know what their customers would be interested in.
There are other ways that business intelligence can help a business learn more about their customers and make better marketing decisions. Companies conduct research by using focus groups to provide input on services and products they provide. When developing a new product, companies hire panels of people, who either represent the demographic they are trying to target, or simply a wide range of demographically representative people. Business intelligence can then interpret this data to give the company an idea of who their potential customers could be. The company would then be able to target that specific audience. Knowing their target market is an important part of deciding what medium to use, and how to appeal to them.
Another way business intelligence helps marketers learn about their customers is by analyzing data received from customer feedback and surveys from customers. Entire marketing campaigns are often based on changes in the business based on customer feedback. Customer feedback can also help marketers understand if they are reaching the right demographic, and if there is a different demographic they should be they should be targeting.
Business Intelligence Helps Companies Understand Their Products
Companies often need to conduct research on how their product is working. When customers use a product or service, they are usually able to find provide feedback on that product. They can then pass this information on to research and development to help them decide which products should be changed, and how to change them. Once the product has been changed, marketing can then develop a new marketing plan based on this information.
Business intelligence can use this feedback is to provide intelligence about ways that customers’ perception about products and services can be changed. For example, what one group of people considers a defect, such as glue that does not stick firmly, can be marketed in a way that this defect is considered a strength or a competitive advantage. Sometimes customers will provide feedback that can provide a new marketing angle, by pointing out a new use they have discovered themselves during the market research sessions. Business intelligence experts can analyze this feedback and introduce it to marketing experts to craft an appropriate message for marketing and branding.
Business Intelligence Helps Companies Know If There Marketing Techniques Work
One of the most important ways that business intelligence can help influence marketing decisions is by analyzing data used to track and record the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. For example, when a new customer buys a product or otherwise uses the services of a business they are often asked how they were introduced to that business. By using their skills in analyzing data, business intelligence services can help determine which types of marketing campaigns are the most effective. They can then compare that data against the cost of each of the marketing campaigns used. This can then help marketers make decisions about which marketing campaigns need to be changed, which are fine as is, and which should be scrapped or abandoned altogether. Measuring ROI in relation to a marketing campaign has gotten exponentially better in the digital marketing world with the use of analytics.
Organizations and businesses use software to record who clicks on an ad, how many people click on it, and how often a click leads to a purchase. This data is then analyzed by business intelligence experts to help determine which campaigns are the most effective. They can then pass this data on to the marketing team, to help decide which campaigns should be refined, which should be kept as is, and which should be pulled altogether.