In our previous post we talked about the usage and impact of Business & Marketing Intelligence in companies and agencies. In this post we will focus on the benefits and function areas of Business and Marketing Intelligence. To better understand all the areas and how they function, we have divided them into the following sub-areas:
Data collection
Implementation of Marketing intelligence can improve your data analytics. With Business & Marketing Intelligence you can collect data in a structured and consistent way. It also includes the linking of various marketing data and its normalization.
Data preparation
Before conducting the analysis the available data must be prepared in order to extract meaningful information from it that is needed for corporate management. With marketing intelligence you will also save plenty of time on data preparation process.
Information representation
The prepared data must be offered to users in easily readable, appropriate forms, such as reports or dashboards.
Business-relevant information
It must be ensured that the quality of the data is high. It is important to focus on the essential data. Complexity leads to unnecessary effort. Too little data in return produces incomplete results — or none at all — and also makes the use of marketing intelligence impossible.
Benefits of Business and Marketing intelligence (Infographic)
Business Intelligence tools, which one should you choose?
Companies typically use business intelligence tools to learn about emerging trends in their segment and extract strategic data to make smart choices. There are numerous business intelligence tools available on the Internet, however, you need to match the one that is most relevant to your needs. To do this, we suggest you have a clear vision first of your OKRs before choosing the right tool.
First and foremost, before investing in a tool that you may not really need, we need to understand how it works and what it is used for. Business intelligence tools have 7 main applications which are the following:
1. Company Reporting
This process is about grouping relevant data of your company without any difficulty, as it can be completely automated by the business intelligence tool. Usually, this data is shared to internal stakeholders. Oracle’s business intelligence tool, which is well suited for this purpose by its ability to cross-compare a very large amount of data.
2. Online Analytical Processing
The core asset is the multi-dimensional approach, which enables end-users to view problems from a range of viewpoints. It can be deployed to perform the analysis of CRM data, financial forecasting, etc. Microsoft Power BI is an excellent business intelligence tool in this case because it enables users to pinpoint trends in real-time with new connectors that help you refine your campaigns. Furthermore, it is web-based which makes it accessible nearly everywhere.
3. Analytics
It can be descriptive, prescriptive or predictive; and is used to review data and derive models for decision making. Analytics can help identify underlying patterns in the data. Nexoya is an AI-driven business intelligence platform that supports the entire analysis cycle. Also web-based, the tool is to be used anywhere, at any time.
4. Data Mining
Data mining is crucial to data management and pre-processing, as it provides the correct data structure. It is about discovering patterns in large datasets and frequently integrates machine learning, statistics and database systems. SAP is a powerful software for supporting all functions, from end-user to management and IT. It features extensive capabilities in a single platform, such as advanced analytics solutions, machine learning and a lot more to discover.
5. Process Mining
Applied to numerous data types (structured and unstructured), it is a database managing scheme in which advanced algorithms are implemented on the datasets to uncover patterns.
6. Benchmarking
Market research is used by businesses to compare their current performance with other businesses, using KPIs. In other words, it is a measure of success, through which improvements can be adopted.
7. Intelligent Enterprise
When a business intelligence solution spreads across an entity’s entire strategy and operations, it can use its data, people, and corporate assets in a way that it can develop an intelligent business.
What about marketing intelligence sources?
Marketing intelligence sources can be of various origins: political, economic, technological and also socio-cultural. Such information can be both external and internal, and in many cases includes insights regarding the demographics of customers and the competition. This knowledge about the business environment of the company will enable it to make strategic decisions. For the data collected must be extremely accurate, and for this reason, collected using business intelligence tools and methods.
The data collection includes surveys, interviews, competitor point of sale monitoring or buying data from different marketing intelligence sources. In general, smaller companies will tend to use traditional data gathering methods, either by themselves or with the help of an agency.
Marketing intelligence examples
Market Reports
An important component of marketing data is market share, which indicates to business what fraction of the market it leads. Junior companies can also use this data to determine if an opportunity for growth exists in specific segments of the market.
Information on the Competition
You can gather competitive information in many different ways, from the most sophisticated, such as industry reports, to the most obvious, a purchase of a competitor’s product. Such information is usually collected to ensure that the market is well suited and focused on the right segment. If you haven’t found your market fit, we strongly suggest you take a look at the principles of lean startup.
Customer Data: Creating Internal Databases
The data collected is very detailed and can be, for example, education level or amount spent per visit. By doing so, companies establish generic customer profiles, attributes that they use to target other non-customers.
Find out more about how to leverage Data-driven decisions in Marketing in our next article!
Benefits of Business and Marketing intelligence (Text version):
- Simplification of data analytics: data access, data collection
- Real-time analysis of data from various sources
- Finding and reducing bottlenecks and pitfalls
- Automated processes to improve customer engagement
- Improvement of the decision -making process
- A better understanding of your own business
