Marketers were among the first business groups to see internal (and external) data resources as a goldmine waiting to be exploited rather than a difficult-to-manage constraint. They have been quick to understand the value of getting immediate insight into customer behaviour as and when required to be able to influence how consumers act at the point-of-sale. At the same time, they want to analyse vast volumes of data quickly to drive the analysis and segmentation of different groups and achieve more accurate targeting of customers and prospects. There has, however, been a lot of hype around big data for marketers.

Here, we aim to cut through that hype and outline five top practical tips to help marketing departments deliver successful big data projects.

1. Don’t focus on volume

It might seem like a paradox but big data is both large – and small! It’s diverse in origin, style, consistency and quality. Some organisations are dealing with massive quantities of data, while others have smaller data sets to exploit but more sources and formats to deal with. Make sure you go after the ‘right’ data. Whether you are looking at sales performance, CRM records or social media feeds: identify all relevant sources, and don’t be embarrassed if you don’t need to immediately scale your data computing cluster to hundreds of nodes.

2. Don’t leave data behind

Some of the data you need for your big data projects is clearly identified, such as transactional data used or generated by CRM or performance measurement tools, for example. However, more is hidden on servers; in log files or desktops. Much of this is neglected. Some even goes to waste in the ‘exhaust fumes’ of IT. All of it is potentially relevant. Don’t limit your project to the first category. Record all of this data and deploy collection mechanisms for itso that it adds business value.

3. Don’t move everything

Too many marketing departments are focused on looking for ways to break down data silos and bring all the data together in one central location. Remember – it’s not always necessary to duplicate and replicate everything. Some data is already readily available in the enterprise data warehouse, where it is available quickly and reliably. And some of it might be better off staying in the location where it was produced.

4. It’s not just about storage

The latest and greatest software frameworks available on the market such as Hadoop are not just repositories for big data but also give marketers the opportunity to extract meaningful information from it. Today, there are a vast range of processing resources available that make getting data out of the platform superfluous to requirements. All the resources are here, at your fingertips.

5. Last, but not least, don’t treat big data as an isolated island

Sandboxes for testing technologies are fine for proof of concepts but when big data projects for marketing go live, they need to be dealt with as an integral part of the business architecture rather than a siloed project. You need to connect big data applications to other systems, both upstream and downstream, and it needs to be part of the business’s overall IT and information governance policy.

Interest in big data for marketing is growing and this is being reflected by more companies rolling out strategies that address this core business need.


Leading-edge technologies lower the adoption barrier, making it easier for marketing departments to get started. Yet, moving pilot projects into mainstream IT requires more than just technology. If marketers take note and follow the five top tips above, they will help ensure their big data projects get off the ground and help drive success for the business as a whole.

 

By Yves de Montcheuil, VP of Marketing at Talend

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