72% of Senior Marketers Consider Data to Be A Strategic Asset...

GLOBAL — 72% of senior marketers consider data to be a strategic asset, according to new research from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). 

Despite this, more than half are ‘only just starting’ the process of giving it a central role in their marketing. 

The study is based on responses from 32 companies with a global annual marketing spend of $35bn. It found that 31% of companies described themselves as advanced or highly advanced in the adoption of data-driven marketing (DDM). 

However, 56% of respondents recognised that they were still early in the journey, describing themselves as in the initial planning stage and yet to deploy a DDM strategy. 

There was also a range in confidence in analytics observed: half were ‘somewhat confident’ and 27% ‘not very confident’ in their ability to identify ROI via data analysis. 

Despite this, 89% of respondents expected to increase budget for analytics and insight, with the goal to evolve the analytics function from historical reporting of what happened to more predictive and prescriptive approaches. 

“It’s no secret that data has become important for marketing purposes, though it’s interesting to note that even some of the world’s biggest companies are only at the early stages of delivering data driven marketing strategies,” said Matt Green, senior global marketing manager at the WFA. “Data consumption is set to increase rapidly and with that sophistication - clarifying how data will be used and how consumer privacy will be protected, should be a fundamental component of a brand’s strategy as it advances into DDM.”

By Bronwan Morgan

The original article can be located at: www.research-live.com